Date of
Judgment: December 5, 1963
Issuing
Authority: Supreme Court
Level of
the Issuing Authority: Final Instance
Type of
Procedure: Judicial (Civil)
Subject
Matter: Trademarks
Summary
of the judgment (decision):
1. In the case where a
single trademark produces two or more pronunciations or concepts, even if it
cannot be said that one of the pronunciations or concepts is identical or similar to the pronunciation or concept of another person's
trademark, it is reasonable to interpret that the two trademarks are still
similar if any other pronunciation or concept of the trademark is similar to
that of another person's trademark.
2. Given the fact situation
found by the court, a trademark which has the designated goods of
"Soap" and which consists of the combination of a figure of a lyre
and the characters, "宝塚" [read as "takarazuka" in Japanese],
produces the pronunciation and concept of simply a "takarazuka"
mark in addition to the pronunciation and concept of a "lyre/lyra takarazuka" mark, so that it should be acknowledged
that the above trademark is similar to the trademark, "宝塚",
which also has the designated goods of "Soap".
(This
translation is provisional and subject to revision.)