Clint Fabiosa & Ana Liza Villamor

THE case of The Nautilus Group Inc. v. Icon Health and Fitness Inc., 372 F.3d 1330 (Fed. Cir. 2004) involved the trademarks “Bowflex” and “Crossbow,” both used for exercise equipment that used bendable rods.

The plaintiff’s Bowflex exerciser was used since 1984 and registered in 1986. It used vertical rods. The defendant’s Crossbow system used horizontal rods and was introduced in 2002.

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When sued, the defendant claimed that the two marks are not similar. The court held that there was confusing similarity stating that the plaintiff’s Bowflex mark is a strong mark and the weakness in the similarity of the marks is offset by the fact that the goods covered are identical.

(clint.fabiosa@iprotect.ph / naliza.villamor@iprotect.ph)