If I can’t share a Curly Wurly then it’s not a revolution.

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Cake day: February 1st, 2023

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  • There could be a huge range of possible answers to this question. But we can look at the listings to get some clues.

    IMMORTALS FENYX RISING Owner: UBISOFT ENTERTAINMENT (France) Nice class: 9, 14, 16, 18, 25, 28, 41

    Regional Trademark Registration Region of filing: European Union Status: Registered (June 25, 2021) Number: 018409702

    And

    IMMORTALS Owner: Relativity Media, LLC (USA) Nice class: 9, 16, 28, 41 Regional Trademark Registration Region of filing: European Union Status: Expired (November 12, 2020) Number: 009520024

    Now there is some overlap between them. The Nice classes, which denote which product/service categories the words are trademarked within, however within a single Nice class there can be a variety of products.

    Fenyx rising’s trademark is still active and we can see it was refiled in June 2021, with some previously expired trademarks of the same name having expired in November 2021, whereas Immortals expired in 2020. Without going into the details my best guess is that the initial filing was more limited and has now been expanded to cover more media.

    But the big one here is the characteristic word. By adding Fenyx Rising, it could be argued that that, in addition to the material differences between the products, there is enough separation to ensure there is no risk of confusion from audiences. There are also multiple Immortals trademarks which could make that word in and of itself less defensible depending on the potential conflict.

    Finally we can’t discount the possibility that the two parties came to a pre-arranged agreement to exist in the marketplace side by side. This often happens and unless one is a long-serving distinctive trademark then usually parties can find a way to agree.