TODAY’S TRDAEMARK – W

The Court of Rome by decision n. 950/2015 has taken a position in a case where the validity of a trademark constituted by a single alphabetic letter was disputed.

Starwood, manager of the “W Hotels” and owner of a number of “W” trademarks registered in Italy and in Europe in connection with hotel and catering services in class 43 and entertainment services in class 41.  For the Cubs, a blue “W” (for “Win”) flies on a white flag atop the Wrigley Field scoreboard when the Cubs are victorious, ostensibly so commuters riding the “L” train on the north side of Chicago can see whether their team won.  

The WalletHub application claims the colors green and white and identifies, among other services,  “creating an on-line community for users seeking financial information” that allows users to “compare financial products” and “engage in social networking services in the field of personal finance.”  After amending the identification of services in response to an Office Action, the mark was published in October 2012.

The W Trademark was registered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Trademark Serial Number is a unique ID to identify the GREIGE mark in USPTO, bearing registration number 1544719 on 20^th June, 2009.