29 Mar Battle of the BLANK Cafes
The owners of Blank Coffee, a London-based artisanal vegan café established in 2018, have opposed the trade mark application for BLANK STREET filed by a US coffee company. While the opponents have a UK trade mark registration for BLANK COFFEE covering coffee and restaurant services, it was only registered in 2022 (2 months after the US company’s application was filed). The opponents, a husband and wife team, must therefore rely on their unregistered trade mark rights in the intervening period, dating back to 2015 when the opponents first starting using the mark on a coffee cart. Accordingly, Blank Coffee have argued that the US company is seeking to pass off its BLANK STREET coffee shops as the opponents’ cafe by copying its indie style and vibe specifically its “distinctive mint green/white/black livery, simple lettering …”and that their consumers have been confused by Blank Street coffee believing that the US company’s coffee shops opening-up around London belonged to the opponents.
It will be interesting to see if the UKIPO uphold the opponents claims or whether, given that the US company claim to have started their coffee chain in the US in 2020 with the same font and style that this may be case of honest concurrent use. This latter contention may prove difficult to maintain given that the US company only commenced use in the UK in 2022, whereas Blank Coffee has long standing use.
Perhaps more importantly, this case highlights the importance of pre-filing clearance searching and the commercial risks to your business venture of underestimating a small local business with earlier trade mark rights, registered or unregistered (see The Guardian)
