(CN) - Luxury handbag maker Coach is not famous enough to block Triumph Learning from selling Coach educational software, the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board determined.
Coach Services Inc. tried to establish the fame of its Coach mark, which it has been using since 1961. With 400 stores nationwide, Coach sells luxury goods and accessories, including purses, wallets and luggage.
Triumph Learning sells its software through catalogs, direct mail and personal sales representatives.
The trademark board ruled that the companies' products and sales methods are different enough to avoid confusion.
Also, Coach is not famous enough to stop Triumph Learning from registering the trademark, the board ruled.
"The media evidence introduced by [Coach] ... fails to show a widespread recognition of [Coach's] mark to the general population," the board wrote.
"[W]e are not persuaded that [Coach] is the subject of 'intense' media recognition," wrote Administrative Trademark Judge Marc Bergsman.
The board concluded that Coach "has not established that Coach is famous for dilution purposes."
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