Federal Circuit Reverses TTAB Decision Based On Dissimilar House Marks

On June 13, the Federal Circuit reversed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB or Board) nonprecedential decision finding no likelihood of confusion between opposer Château Lynch-Bages' and applicant Château Angélus S.A.'s respective trademarks. The Federal Circuit reasoned that the Board erroneously determined that the marks at issue – "ECHO DE LYNCH BAGES" and "ECHO D'ANGÉLUS" – contained house marks and gave "predominant" weight to the similarity factor in its DuPont analysis to arrive at a finding of dissimilarity without substantial evidence.

The Board's DuPont analysis originally favored a finding of likelihood for confusion, in that the Board determined that two DuPont factors weighed in favor of confusion, one factor was neutral, and one factor weighed "somewhat" against confusion. But upon the Board's consideration of the similarities of the competing marks, which was correctly asserted to be "one of the most important considerations," the Board