UK NEWS

New York Mets in post-season conflict

Alas for Mets supporters, this is not a reference to their team’s presence at the World Series, but to a recent trade mark conflict with a Government agency in the UK. The agency in question is the weather forecasting authority known as the Meteorological Office, better known simply as the Met Office. The Met Office opposed an application by MLB Properties to register the name Mets (in the famous baseball team’s distinctive lettering) in Classes 16, 25 and 28. The opposition was based on a UK registration of Met Office, a CTM application for Met and on alleged rights in passing off.

The Hearing Officer dismissed the opposition based on the UK mark on the basis that Met Office is not confusingly similar to the Mets logo. He also rejected the passing off ground for similar reasons, having found that the only mark in which the Met Office could claim a demonstrable reputation was Met Office.

In considering the Met Office’s mark Met, the Hearing Officer noted that unlike Mets, Met is a word with a normal meaning (“encountered”), it is a well recognised abbreviation (for “meteorological” or “metropolitan”) and it has no plural or possessive form. He further noted the stylisation of the Mets logo, though he considered this to be “very slight”. Having made all of these points, the Examiner then somewhat surprisingly concluded that consumers would (emphasis added) be likely to confuse the two marks.

The Mets have won something of a reprieve, however, because the Hearing Officer made his decision conditional upon the Met Office’s CTM proceeding to registration. As it happens, the Met Office’s CTM application is itself under opposition…by MLB Properties! The opposition is based on an earlier CTM registration of the word Mets. It seems that all should work out well in the end for MLB Properties, if OHIM find the marks Met and Mets confusingly similar, which seems likely, and providing they can show use of the Mets logo in Europe. If not… loyal Mets fans can hardly bear to watch.