Game Of Phonetics!

Recently, at the Indian Trademark Registry, the proprietor of the mark 'HITACHI' viz. Hitachi Ltd. filed an opposition against the mark '' which is an assortment of the word 'MITASHI' with the slogan 'Endless Entertainment' with the face of a moustached human, filed by Maze Marketing. The Opposition was filed in January 2006. The Opponent contended that the marks 'HITACHI' and 'MITASHI' are phonetically, structurally and deceptively similar to one another, thus alleging that the applicant's mark was adopted in bad faith.

The Applicant's refuted stating that its predecessors have been carrying on business since the year 1992 and have originally conceived and adopted the applied mark. Further, the Applicant's submitted that the mark is a well-known one especially for audio/video games for children. The Applicant's further submitted that the opposition filed was frivolous and baseless.