Filed under Strategy
Australia's peak science and research organisation has successfully beaten down
an attempt by technology giant Cisco to stop it from registering its logo as a
trademark.
In 2012, the CSIRO
lodged an application with Australia's trademark office to register its
distinctive logo.
However, Cisco took
issue with the registration later that year, claiming the CSIRO logo was
markedly similar to its own.
At a hearing in February
this year, Cisco representative Angela Stark argued that the Cisco logo - a
series of vertical stripes representing the Golden Gate Bridge - had been in
place in various forms since the company's inception in 1984.
A rebranding of the logo
in 2006 resulted in the current iteration seen today.
"[The logo] is a
valuable asset to Cisco, and is considered one of the most valuable brands in
the world," Stark argued, pointing out that it maintained a top 20
position in the world's top 100 brands as ranked by consultancy InterBrand,
currently coming in at number 14.
Representatives from the
CSIRO similarly argued that the science and research organisation enjoyed great
recognition in Australia.
Its logo is made up of a
series of vertical stripes representing a map of Australia.
"Results [from a
2010 Ogilvy Illumination report] showed that the [CSIRO] is the first mentioned
organisation doing science and research in Australia for 73 percent of
respondents," they argued.
However, the trademark
office ultimately disregarded both arguments in favour of discerning whether
the two trademarks were deceptively similar in appearance.
It found that
Australians were likely to recognise the separate logos as representative of
the particular icon each was attempting to convey.
"[The CSIRO logo]
is likely to be recognised by virtually all Australians as a stylised rendition
of the outline of the continent in which they live," the trademark office
ruled.
"Similarly, the
device component of [Cisco's logo] bears a marked resemblance to the Golden
Gate Bridge in San Francisco. That bridge is of iconic status and as such is
likely to be recognised by many Australians."
The office similarly
found that it was "most unlikely" an invididual would be confused by
the similarity in letters - CISCO and CSIRO - used in the logos.
"'Cisco’ is
immediately recognisable as a short-form for the words ‘San
Francisco’. The juxtaposition within [Cisco's logo] of the word ‘Cisco’
with the abstract rendering of the Golden Gate Bridge lends reinforcement to
the significance and denotation of the other and is likely to be perceived as
such," the trademark office found.
While the logos were
composed of similar elements, they were "unlikely to be confused".
"As a consequence,
there is no significant likelihood of confusion and deception and the Opponent
has not established its ground under section 44 of the Act," the office
ruled.
Cisco was awarded to pay
the CSIRO's costs.
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