Adidas won an interesting opposition against a trademark application for “ADIDOG”, applied for clothing for dogs in Japan.

According to the German manufacturer, which invoked several of its earlier Adidas trademarks, the trademarks in the case at hand were very similar, which in turn could create a consumer cofusion. Another reason that could lead to this conclusion were the fact that Adidas has a significant and longstanding reputation in Japan and that the signs were used for similar goods although the target market is different.

The Japanese Patent Office confirmed this position refusing the ADIDOG” application. This was a second win for Adidas which successfully stopped the following application for combined “ADIDOG” mark some time ago:

Source: The Fashion Law and Masaki Mikami