eBay Fails to Stop Registration of ‘UKBAY’ Trademark

2018/11/23

Online retail platform eBay has failed to stop the registration of a ‘UKBAY’ trademark, according to a UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) decision delivered on November 16.Games company SC ZuMedia Games applied to register a figurative trademark, with the word “UKBAY” next to a circular device, in pink and blue in 2017. The trademark covers classes 35, for advertising and business management services, and 38, for telecoms.eBay filed an opposition to the mark during the same year, on the basis of its own earlier-registered trademarks.Word mark ‘EBAY’ (UK trademark number 2,185,144) was registered in 1998 for advertising in class 35 and, in 2000, ‘EBAY’ was registered (2,221,802) for various services including telecoms, in class 38.eBay claimed that the applied-for mark is highly similar to its own marks and consumers would confuse ZuMedia’s services with the “huge reputation” of eBay.Overall, the IPO found that eBay’s opposition succeeded in respect of advertising in class 35, but the applied-for mark will be registered in class 35 for other services, including business management, and class 38, for telecoms.As ZuMedia had a greater proportion of success in the proceedings, the IPO ordered eBay to pay £560 ($721) towards its costs.

Source: WIPR