Artisan Clothing Loses Trademark Bid Due to Similar NYC Brand

A company can’t register a trademark for “Artisan NY” because it’s too similar to an existing trademark for Artesano New York City, a federal appeals court ruled.

The differences between English and Spanish words for artisan are slight and, as a result, the marks create a similar commercial impression of clothing created by tradespeople in New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said July 11. The court rejected Artisan designer JS ADL LLC’s argument that the Artesano trademark was too weak to merit protection.

The ruling, affirming a trademark tribunal’s decision, highlights that combining weak components ...