Decisions · 86705287
In re Peace Love World Live, LLC
Serial No. 86705287 · Decided 2018-07-23 · Other
What happened
The Board upheld the refusal to register I LOVE YOU for bracelets on two independent grounds: the phrase, spelled out across the bracelet’s segments, is merely decorative wording rather than a brand name (like many competitors' similar bracelets), and separately it is too close to another company’s already-registered mark I LUV U for jewelry including bracelets.
The marks
Applicant
I LOVE YOU
"bracelets," in Class 14
Cited or opposed mark
I LUV U
"jewelry, namely, necklaces, bracelets, rings and charms; pendants; earrings," in Class 14
How the marks compared
| Dimension | Finding | What the Board said |
|---|---|---|
| sound | Similar | “Love” and “luv” are phonetic equivalents and “U” is a recognized abbreviation for “YOU”; the marks sound alike. |
| appearance | Somewhat Similar | Same overall structure (I ___ ___), but differ in the spelling of “Love”/“Luv” and “You”/“U”; the Board found these minor differences did not outweigh the marks' overall identity. |
| meaning | Similar | Both marks mean the same thing and express the same term of endearment. |
| commercial impression | Similar | Both engender the same commercial impression as a term of endearment, despite Applicant’s argument that I LUV U has a more modern/texting feel. |
Strongly similar overall despite minor spelling differences, per the Board’s finding.
du Pont factors that bore on the outcome
| # | Factor | Weight | What the Board found |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Similarity of the marks | Dispositive | The marks share the same structure, sound alike, mean the same thing, and create the same commercial impression; minor spelling differences did not distinguish them. |
| 3 | Similarity of trade channels corrected from 2. Similarity of the Goods and Channels of Trade | Dispositive | The goods are legally identical in part (bracelets/bracelets), so channels of trade and classes of purchasers are presumed identical, and ordinary (not sophisticated) consumers apply. |
| 6 | Number and nature of similar marks in use | Favored Applicant | Seven third-party jewelry registrations of I LOVE YOU variations, plus evidence of actual ornamental use by others, showed the phrase is commonly used and conceptually narrow for jewelry, but this favorable factor was outweighed by the marks‘ strong similarity and the goods’ identity. |
1 factor label was renumbered to match the canonical du Pont list. The extraction's original label is shown beneath.
Why this decision is significant
Precedential decision providing the leading, oft-cited framework for the failure-to-function/ornamentation refusal for common sentimental phrases on jewelry, decided together with a full Section 2(d) analysis in the same opinion.
Research significance is Trademark Valet's editorial rating of how useful a decision is to practitioners. It is not a statement of precedential weight — that is the separate Precedential field, which comes from the Board.
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The original record
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