The Travelwings Case, Confusing Similarity

In this article, we discuss a recent South African High Court judgment in the case ofWings Travel Management (Pty) Ltd v Satguru Travels (Pty) Ltd t/a Travelwings.

The facts

Wings Travel Management (Pty) Ltd ("Wings Travel") has South African registrations for the trade mark WINGS in classes 39 (travel services) and 43 (restaurant and accommodation services). Wings Travel claimed that the use by a rival company, Satguru Travels, of the trade mark TRAVELWINGS, constituted trade mark infringement in terms of Sections 34(1)(a) of the Trade Marks Act, as well as passing-off in terms of the common law. Both of these claims were dismissed.

What follows is a summary of the judge's findings - the main issue, of course, was whether there was a likelihood of confusion between the trade marks WINGS and TRAVELWINGS.