INFINITY Case Highlights Importance Of Global Appreciation

The Court of Cassation has approved the First Instance Court's decision in a case involving several INFINITY marks, shedding light on the principle of global appreciation of trademarks in the similarity examination.

Background

On 8 January 2018 the applicant filed an application to register the trademark depicted below for "flying services by means of paragliding" in Class 41 before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (PTO):

After the application was published in the Official Trademarks Bulletin, Civan Türedi filed an opposition against the application on the ground of likelihood of confusion. The opposition was based on the following trademarks:

The PTO's Trademarks Department accepted the opposition, and the applicant's appeal against the decision was rejected by the Re-examination and Evaluation Board. The applicant then filed a cancellation action against the board's decision before the Ankara IP First Instance Court.