Twitter wins disputed bird logo court case against SG tech firm

A Singapore-founded tech start-up named V V Technology will not be able to register its logo as the High Court dismissed its appeal. The dismissal came as Twitter opposed the use of the logo.

According to reports on CNA, when Twitter filed for the opposition of the use of logo in 2019, and a principal assistant registrar found that V V Technology's application mark had been registered for a wide variety of goods and services, some of which included computer software applications, advertising, providing online forums and entertainment services.  As such the principal assistant registrar ruled in Twitter’s favour.

The principal assistant registrar said that if both marks were rendered in yellow, they would be too similar in nature given the characteristics of a bird in flight, seen through side view.

The company then appealed against the ruling and argued while both logos saw birds in flight, the movements and positioning of their bodies were different. In its arguments, V V Technology argued that the competing marks were of different orientations. They said that it is clear if a line is drawn across the bird's body.

Nonetheless, the High Court agreed that visually the two logos were similar and could create confusion. According to CNA's report. Judicial Commissioner Goh also said the real risk would be the “misrepresentation could divert sales and customers away from Twitter”.

In its arguments, V V Technology argued that the competing marks were of different orientations. They said that it is clear if a line is drawn across the bird's body. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out for a statement from both sides. 

Dominic Mason, managing director at Sedgwick Richardson SEA, said the situation is tricky if the discussion is stated to the symbol alone, but the colour and name of the brands are vastly different.

“If you consider the V V Technology logo (name and typography) with the yellow bird, there seems to be an association between the two as the yellow bird has a ‘V’ shape. Of course if you make the Twitter logo yellow then there will be a greater similarity which is stated by the courts,” he said.

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