Jite Intellectual Property: What is the standard for determining trademark similarity in Japan?

The similarity of trademarks is determined based on

(1) the similarity of the designated goods and

(2) the similarity of the trademarks, rather than the US That itself raises the possibility of confusion.

With regard to the similarity of designated goods, the JPO determines similarity based on the similarity code assigned to the product description specified in the official guidelines.

As for the similarity of trademarks, there are three criteria, namely pronunciation, appearance and meaning. In particular, the uniqueness of Japanese should be considered in terms of pronunciation and meaning.

As for trademarks written in foreign languages, various pronunciations may be applied for based on the way Japanese people pronounce them. Your trademark application may be rejected by an earlier mark whose pronunciation is significantly different from the original pronunciation. For example, the following marks are considered sonically similar: HOUGH and HAWK, ABSON and AVISUN, KALVAR and Calobar, OLSSON and ORSO, Car boy and Cowboy.

Furthermore, with regard to similarity in meaning, foreign language markers are often rejected by markers that have corresponding meanings in Japanese or that create similar associations with people who see the marker.