Fashion label Calvin Klein has lost a European Court of Justice (ECJ) appeal aimed at preventing the trademarking by Spanish company Zafra Marroquineros of the word sign ‘CK Creaciones Kennya’ for clothes and leather goods.
The US clothing giant claimed “there was a likelihood that consumers would confuse it with its own trademark”, namely its famous CK logo. Last year, it lost at the ECJ’s junior Court of First Instance, but appealed to the senior ECJ, arguing the lower court had ignored relevant case law and “distorted the facts”, ignoring that “the words ‘Creaciones Kennya’ constitute the most noticeable part of the mark…” whose initials are ‘CK’.
The senior ECJ disagreed, concluding “there is no likelihood of confusion between the marks”, and ordered the US company to pay costs.
