TREVISO vs TREVI

patentandtrademark

Company sells plumbing fixtures under the trademark TREVI and wants to register the TREVI trademark.  Plumbing fixtures are also sold under the trademark

patentandtrademark

uspto allowed them BOTH to be registered.

drvag

That does not make sense.  Does the USPTO operate under the same standards as our US Presidents when it comes to the law?  Democratic and republican alike.

patentandtrademark

They look at the "overall commercial impression" - which can be a nebulous standard, as we can see.

Innovator7

I venture to say they`re different, because `Trevi would be stressed on 1st syllable while Treviso the middle syllable.  Furthermore, both trademarks are probably minor trademarks, so what`s the big deal?  They probably don`t have much marketing and legal muscle.

patentandtrademark

the only big deal would be if customers were confused into thinking the two companies were somehow related.

Innovator7

Well, USPTO is judge and made that determination, just like it does regarding "obviousness"Anecdote: my technician -  a self-professed inventor himself even though I pointed out to him that his "inventions" are unpatentable because they`re just repackaged stuff - thinks that my  next-generation inverter invention is obvious, until I remind him that I`ve explained to him its principles at least 5 times yet he still doesn`t quite understand how it works, and nothing that simple exists on the market, and the chance of 100 engineers asked to design an inverter to come up with a similar structure is zero - it`s been like that the last 50-some years.The Supreme Court is working o the issue of "obviousness".  I`d say that if a device or method could be developed "in a clean room environment" that results in a similar or same device/method, then it`s obvious.

patentandtrademark

could be that your technician is not a person of ordinary skill in the art if he does not understand it.

Innovator7

that`s what I told him too.  It`s contradictory on his part to say "obvious" yet he still doesn`t get it after being exposed to explanations many times, not that he carries any weight in his opinion.  He is just a sounding board to me.  By explaining to a sounding board, I refine my concept and even get a better understanding of my own invention or better scope.
Innovator72007-7-6 10:52:59

patentandtrademark

sounding board is good, provided they know enough to contribute