Adidas likely to lose over trademark dispute

Sportswear retailer Adidas has failed in its bid to prevent a Taiwanese business from registering a visually similar trademark in Singapore.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) rejected an Adidas lawsuit against Lutong Enterprise Corp, dismissing the claim that the similarities could potentially cause confusion in the market and allowing Lutong to carry on with registration.

Both logos feature three sloping lines, although the Lutong logo includes a circle and has lines sloping in the opposite direction to the Adidas logo.

The principal assistant registrar wrote: “A triangle whose right angle points upwards may give the visual impression of a mountain, or at least of something grounded. A triangle whose right angle points downwards gives a significantly different visual impression, that of something en pointe, perched or being balanced.”

The brand marks were thus judged to be more different than similar.

Lutong’s logo was designed around eight years earlier than the Adidas logo.

Germany, South Korea and Hong Kong have blocked Lutong from using the logo.