• Patent Court Decision No. 2022Heo2998 ruling Rejection (Trademark)

The Patent Court’s decision on November 24, 2022, ruled that the trademark “L-RECRU TV” (Korean transliteration of “L-RECRU TV”) cannot be registered due to its similarity to “.”

In the case, the applicant argued for the dissimilarity of the two trademarks based on the fact that nearly 70% of respondents in a conducted survey stated that the two trademarks would not cause confusion. However, this argument was not accepted. On the contrary, the court pointed out that despite the composition of the survey questions and repetitive inquiries potentially influencing respondents’ answers, 30% of respondents still indicated the possibility of confusion between the two trademarks. Considering this, the court concluded that the applicant’s argument was unfounded and that the trademarks were similar.

This ruling established a precedent where, even if nearly 70% of respondents in a survey deny the possibility of confusion, trademarks can be deemed similar under consideration of the survey design and structure if only 30% of respondents indicate potential confusion.

Furthermore, this ruling highlights the importance of ensuring objectivity in survey question composition when utilizing surveys as evidence for claiming trademark dissimilarity.

In cases where it is difficult to obtain recognition of dissimilarity, rather than conducting surveys with leading questions at a significant cost, pursuing agreements with prior registered trademark holders may be a more efficient and wise strategy.