On November 10, 2008 The Section of Appeals of the State Patent Bureau partly answered the opposition No. 2157 of the interested person KABUSHIKI KAISHA ONWARD KASHIYAMA regarding the refusal of granting protection for POMPASIA KFT. trademark „J.PRESS“ international registration No. 669990 in the Republic of Lithuania.
In order to estimate the similarity of trademarks, main elements of both marks were compared by the Section of Appeals: comparing visually, verbal elements „J.PRESS“ in both marks are the same. Different fonts and font sizes of verbal elements do not bring a distinct perception of marks, therefore, trademarks considered to be visually similar. Phoneticaly, marks are identical too. What is more, as the element „J.PRESS“ in the protested mark occurs two times, its visual and phonetic similarity to the mark of the interested person is even more enhanced. Due to the conterminous main verbal parts, elements „J.PRESS“ are also identical semanticaly. Lastly, the Section of Appeals stated that the protested mark „J.PRESS“ is misleadingly similar to the earlier mark „J.PRESS“ of the interested person in class 25.