Boley Corp.

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

Sep 28, 2001

No. 75704871 (T.T.A.B. Sep. 28, 2001)

9/28/01

Paper No. 9
DEB

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
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Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
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In re Boley Corporation
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Serial No. 75/704,871
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Anthony O. Cormier for Boley Corporation.

Sally Y. Shih, Trademark Examining Attorney, Law Office 106
(Mary I. Sparrow, Managing Attorney).
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Before Chapman, Bucher and Rogers, Administrative Trademark
Judges.
Opinion by Bucher, Administrative Trademark Judge:
Boley Corporation seeks registration of the mark
LITTLE GOURMET KITCHEN (with KITCHEN disclaimed) for
“plastic toy kitchen playsets,” in International Class 28.1
Registration has been finally refused under Section
2(d) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. §1052(d), on the
ground that applicant’s mark, as applied to its identified
goods, so resembles the previously registered mark LITTLE

1 Application Serial No. 75/704,871, filed on May 14, 1999,
based upon an allegation of use in commerce since October 16,
1997.
THIS DISPOSITION IS NOT
CITABLE AS PRECEDENT
OF THE TTAB
Serial No. 75/704,871
2
GOURMET for “children's toys, namely, tea sets, bakeware
sets and cookware sets”2 as to be likely to cause confusion,
to cause mistake or to deceive.
Applicant has appealed. Briefs have been filed, but
applicant did not request an oral hearing before the Board.
We affirm the refusal to register. In reaching this
conclusion, we have considered all of the relevant du Pont3
factors.
Turning first to a consideration of the respective
marks, applicant’s mark LITTLE GOURMET KITCHEN and the
registered mark LITTLE GOURMET are extremely similar in
connotation and appearance. Specifically, the marks
connote something associated with toys used by children who
are pretending to do food preparation in a play kitchen.
Applicant has taken registrant’s mark in its entirety and
simply added the highly descriptive word KITCHEN to it.
While the drawing shows a typed drawing, we note that on
the specimens of record, LITTLE GOURMET is shown in a
different font and lettering style than KITCHEN each time
that it occurs – on the top of the page and again on each

2 Reg. No. 2,301,514, issued December 21, 1999. The claimed
dates of first use and first use in commerce are 1991.
3 See In re E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 476 F.2d 1357,
177 USPQ 563, 567 (CCPA 1973).
Serial No. 75/704,871
3
of the images showing different playsets in what look like
photographs of playsets in their blister packages:

Serial No. 75/704,871
4
Hence, when considered in their entireties, we
conclude that the marks will create identical overall
commercial impressions.
We turn next to the goods. Applicant’s goods are a
bit broader in that they include “kitchen playsets”
generally. Registrant’s goods comprise three specific sub-
sets of kitchen playsets, namely tea sets, bakeware sets
and cookware sets. Judging from the specimens of record,
it appears as if baking playsets constitute a large portion
of applicant’s kitchen playsets. Accordingly, while some
of the goods of applicant and registrant are identical, the
balance of the respective goods are closely related.
Accordingly, with quite similar marks used on the same
or closely-related goods, we find a likelihood of
confusion.
Decision: The refusal to register is affirmed.