The British fashion brand Burberry and the US Barbie manufacturer Mattel have reached an agreement in the trademark dispute over the BRBY word mark.
Mattel appealed to the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in June to block Burberry’s registration of the word mark “BRBY” for use on clothing and leather goods. Mattel argued that there was a high likelihood of confusion between the Barbie mark and the BRBY mark because the two marks were visually similar and, when spoken out loud, were phonetically identical. Mattel was concerned that the BRBY brand could easily be viewed by consumers as a subset or extension of the Barbie brand.
Mattel has now withdrawn this objection after Burberry had previously expressly waived the disputed trademark registration. Observers suspect that the parties reached an agreement out of court after the objection proceedings were suspended in the summer for settlement negotiations.
The idea of using BRBY as a wordmark for Burberry is as obvious as the fear of confusion. Finally, Burberry is also traded on the London Stock Exchange under this symbol.
The waiver of trademark rights to the acronym primarily affects the US market. According to media reports, Burberry has held the trademark rights to BRBY for use on leather goods, clothing and footwear in the United Kingdom, the European Union and South Korea since 2022.