Lacoste loses ‘battle of crocs’

A long-running dispute between two clothing brands with logos that each depict a crocodile has ended in favor of Crocodile International Pte. Ltd. of Singapore over Lacoste S.A. of France.

The two companies have locked horns in legal battles around the world over Lacoste’s claim that its rival’s brand design resembled its own too closely.

But the Supreme Court ruled that there was no confusing similarity between the two trademarks, affirming an earlier decision by the Court of Appeals (CA).

Distinguishable

In a 16-page ruling on GR No. 223270, the Supreme Court’s Third Division rejected Lacoste’s petition seeking to overturn a 2015 CA decision that upheld an earlier ruling of the Intellectual Property Office in Crocodile’s favor.

“The Court holds that there are pronounced differences between Lacoste’s and Crocodile’s marks, [which make] them distinguishable from one another,” the high tribunal said in the decision dated Nov. 6, 2023, but made public on Sept. 10.

The ruling was penned by Associate Justice Antonio Kho.

In December 1996, Crocodile filed a trademark application for the mark “crocodile and device,” but it wasn’t until 2004 when Lacoste opposed it.

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The French brand argued it would be “greatly damaged” as the Singaporean brand’s design was “confusingly similar or identical” to its own mark.

But the high court said Lacoste failed to prove this.

“As a matter of fact… Crocodile even facilitated the registration of Lacoste’s mark in different jurisdictions by giving consent to Lacoste’s entry in countries where Crocodile first registered its mark,” it said. INQ