Iron Chef trademark battle

An Australian food delivery company recently took on Fuji Television Network and won in a battle over the Iron Chef trademark use.

Earlier this month Delegate of the Registrar of Trademarks, Nicholas Barbey rejected all grounds of opposition and allowed the name Iron Chef Pizzas to proceed to registration.

“Fuji has provided no evidence or any cogent basis to conclude, the customers would perceive food delivery and online food ordering software services as a natural or logical extension of an entertainment service being a television cooking show. Entertainment service providers operate in distinct marketplaces to food delivery service providers and software service providers. The only tenuous link between these services is a commonality of food as subject matter,” he said.

The broadcaster argued that the name Iron Chef had earned an international reputation because of the original Japanese Iron Chef TV series that aired from 1993 until 2002 in Japan, and various adaptations around the world.

The original show aired on SBS from 2003, with a local version, Iron Chef Australia hosted by Grant Denyer on Seven in 2010. The name was also used for a number of charity fundraising dinners in Sydney and Melbourne.

Fuji is the owner of a number of Iron Chef trademarks in Australia for use under cutlery, clothing, entertainment services, restaurants and cooking classes. But Iron Chef Pizza told IP Australia that it intended to use the mark as a food delivery app.

“Broadly speaking (Iron Chef’s Pizza) services or food delivery services, and the provision of non downloadable software, which facilitates the ordering and delivery of food in relation to Fuji specific claim for restaurant and cafe services. While these services may share some similar trademarks, to food delivery services, the nature and use of the services differ,” said Barbey.

“In my view, an ordinary Australian Consumer encountering the trademark Iron Chef, when used by Iron Chef Pizza, in connection with Iron Chef Pizza services will not be caused to wonder whether those services originate from the same trade source as that of the Iron Chef television show. The respective services are sufficiently different, that it is unlikely they will be thought to have originated from the same trade source.”

Source: Lawyerly