Trademark Dilution And The (S)POTIFY Dispute

Music app Spotify has successfully opposed the registration of the trademark 'Potify' by marjuana app Potify on the grounds of dilution by blurring and tarnishment. Julia Schefman examines the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruling and asks whether the outcome would have been any different under EU law. 

Back in January 2017, US Software Inc started using the mark 'Potify' for an app for "legal marijuana dispensaries to market and sell their products''. Spotify, the well-known music app, opposed the registration of this trademark on the basis of dilution by blurring and tarnishment. In its January 2022 ruling, the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) agreed with Spotify's argument that consumers would associate the two marks, thereby diminishing and diluting the distinctiveness of the Spotify brand name.