Advanced Magazine Publishers prevents registration of mark containing 'glamour'

In Vi Da Producciones SA v Advanced Magazine Publishers Inc (Court Files 432/07 and 4392/09, May 13 2014), the Civil and Commercial Federal Court of Appeals has rejected the plaintiff’s trademark application for the mark TENDENCIA GLAMOUR DISEÑO VANGUARDIA in Classes 16, 35, 38 and 41 of the Nice Classification, thus upholding the opposition filed by the defendant based on its trademark GLAMOUR.

Advanced Magazine Publishers Inc filed an opposition against the trademark applications filed by Vi Da Producciones SA based on its trademark GLAMOUR, registered in Argentina in virtually all classes.

In considering that the objection was duly founded, the court first held that both trademarks shared the word ‘glamour’, and that the additional words ‘tendencia’, ‘diseño’ and ‘vanguardia’ did not confer distinctiveness on the mark applied for.

The court highlighted the fact that, within the fashion and beauty sectors, products are usually identified with terms that are apparently “weak”, but which - when used in these sectors - may gain strength and recognition.

Consequently, considering that GLAMOUR is a well-known trademark in the fashion and publication sectors, the court held that the trademark applied for would evoke the magazine owned by the defendant, and would mislead consumers into believing that the defendant had started to publish another fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazine. Registration of the mark applied for would thus lead to confusion regarding the source of the publication (ie, indirect confusion).

Based on the above reasoning, the court concluded that the plaintiff’s trademark could not be registered and thus allowed the opposition by Advanced Magazine Publishers.

Fernando Noetinger, Noetinger & Armando, Buenos Aires