Justification for PLAYPETS SHOWDOG PET SHAMPOO trademark

MIKOLAS CORPORATION, a corporation duly organized and existing

under the laws of the Philippines, appeal that Intellectual Property Office
reconsider our request for the registration of trademark specifically PLAY
PETS SHOWDOG PET SHAMPOO on the ground that;

First, Mikolas Corporation has been actually and exclusively using the
mark in commerce since 2017 ahead of MR. SHOW DOGS PH. MR.
SHOWDOGS PH earlier registration on July 30, 2021 is of no moment as it
merely creates a prima facie presumption of validity of registration, of the
registrant’s ownership of the trademark and of the exclusive right to the
use thereof which is rebuttable and must yield to the evidence to the
contrary.(Birkenstock and Co. Kg vs Philippine Shoe Expo Marketing
Corp, G.R. No. 194307, November 20, 2013) As a matter of fact, Mikolas
Corporation has been consistently using trademark PLAY PETS
SHOWDOG PET SHAMPOO in trade and business since 2017 as evidence
by official receipt of the creation of packaging and delivery receipt of Pet
Shampoo to clients and distributors of MIKOLAS bearing the name of
PLAY PETS SHOWDOG PET SHAMPOO as showed by the following
attached documents.

Secondly, MIKOLAS PLAYPETS SHOWDOG PET SHAMPOO is not

confusingly similar or identical with MR. SHOW DOGS PH as to confuse
ordinary purchasers as to the owner of such mark because in ascertaining
whether one trademark is confusingly similar or is a colorable imitation of
another, no set rules can be deduced. Each case must be decided on its own
merits. (Emerald Garment Manufacturing Corporation vs. Court of
Appeals, 251 SCRA 600, 1995) Applying the holistic test, a consideration
must be given on the entirety of the marks as applied to the products,
including the labels and packaging, in determining confusing similarity.
The discerning eye of the observer must focus not on the predominant
words but also on the other features appearing on both labels in order that
the observer may draw his conclusion whether one is confusingly similar
to the other. (Prosource International, Inc. vs. Horphag Research
Management SA, G. R. No. 180073, November 25, 2009) In Holistic test,
Factors such as sound; appearance; form, style, shape, size or format; color;
ideas connoted by the marks; the meaning, spelling, and pronunciation of
words used; and the setting in which the words appear’ may be
considered. (Etepha v. Director of Patents, G.R. No. L-20635, 31 March
1966) Side by side comparison between PLAYPETS SHOWDOG PET
SHAMPOO AND MR. SHOW DOGS PH would not confuse ordinary
purchasers as to the owner of the trademark. Applying the doctrine in
these circumstances, it is crystal clear that MIKOLAS Pet shampoo has
PLAY PETS in the beginning of the sentence with color of blue and pink
respectively imprinted or inked in those words while MR. SHOW DOGS
has MR. with bold letters colored in green at the start of its sentence. In line
of business, MIKOLAS PLAYPETS SHOW DOG marks covered shampoo,
conditioner, and whitening while MR. SHOW DOGS covered products like
odor eliminator, organic dog supplement, and herbal healing balm.  As to
style, Mikolas has SHOW DOGS set in italics colored in black while MR.
SHOW DOGS PH is put in bold letters colored in green. The SHOW DOG
of MIKOLAS has no S while those of MR. SHOW DOGS has S in the end. 
Considering the totality of the marks, there are clear substantial
distinctions that would not cause confusion to the ordinary purchaser.

Thirdly, SHOW and DOGS are generic and descriptive words. Generic
terms are those which constitute the common descriptive name of an article
or substance, or comprise the ‘genus of which the particular product is a
species, or are commonly used as the name or description of a kind of
goods, ‘or ‘imply reference to every member of a genus and the exclusion
of individuating characters which are not legally protectable. (Societe Des
Products Nestle vs Court of Appeals, G. R. No. 112012, April 4, 2001) In
this case, DOGS or DOG is clearly a generic word because it refers to a
genus of a particular species while SHOW is descriptive of a performance
of such a dog. DOGS and SHOW cannot be appropriated for exclusive
use by anyone because they are generic and descriptive words.
We hope and pray that you will grant our request.