Andrew McWhirter (Brodies LLP ) published an article for Lexology regarding an opposition lost by the fashion brand Mango.

The case concerns an application for a UK trademark YANGO for identical and similar goods to those under Mango brand.

Against this application, an opposition was filed based on a series of earlier Mango trademarks. On top of that, a reputation for Mango mark was stated before the Patent Office.

The UKIPO ruled that there are no grounds for consumer confusion. The arguments for this conclusion were that although there are some visual and phonetic similarities between the signs in general, there are not similar enough because of the lack of conceptual similarity ( Mango is a fruit, whereas Yango has no meaning) and the fact that the beginning of the marks are different – M and Y.

Most likely this decision will be appealed. Nevertheless, however, it is indicative of how difficult the protection of such marks could be.