Judging trademark similarity takes the ordinary attention of the relevant public as the standard: the character form, pronunciation, meaning, and overall appearance of the marks are compared both as a whole and by dominant portion, and, in light of the degree of similarity of the designated goods, a determination is made as to whether coexistence would readily cause the public to confuse or misidentify the source of the goods.
Three Core Comparison Dimensions
For word marks, the main considerations are: first, character form—for example, "大白免" versus "大白兔"; second, pronunciation—for example, "娃哈哈" versus "娃哈蛤"; third, meaning—for example, "长城" (Great Wall) and its foreign-language equivalent. If any one of the three dimensions is highly close and there is no obvious distinguishing feature, the marks may be found similar.
Overall Comparison and Dominant-Portion Comparison
Examination considers both the overall impression and the distinctive identifying portion. The beginning of a word, coined words, and core words are usually the dominant portion. A mark that fully incorporates another party's prior trademark without forming a clearly distinguishable meaning—for example, "新东方烹饪" against "新东方"—is generally found similar. Adding a non-distinctive suffix (such as "之家" or "优选") usually does not reverse a similarity conclusion.
Device and Combined Marks
For device marks, the comparison covers compositional elements, design style, and overall visual effect. In a word-device combined mark, the word portion is often the dominant portion, and similarity of the words may lead to a similarity finding even if the devices differ.
Likelihood of Confusion Is the Ultimate Yardstick
Similarity judgment is not a purely formal comparison; it ultimately turns on whether confusion is likely. The more similar the goods and the more renowned the prior trademark, the lower the threshold for a similarity finding.
Practical Suggestions
For self-checking, search prior trademarks against the candidate mark separately by character form, pronunciation, and meaning; high similarity on any single dimension warrants heightened vigilance. When in doubt, obtain a professional approval-rate assessment.
If you are unsure about the above issues, you can first run a trademark registration assessment on MyTMBee and act after obtaining an analysis opinion from a record-filed agent.