The value judgment conundrum : a critical review of recent trade mark appeal decisions

Abstract

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has had a relatively busy time over the past few years dealing with trade mark disputes. There have been at least thirteen of them between 2014 and June 2017.1 of these, seven have confronted the challenging and elusive question of the likelihood of confusing and/or deceptive similarity between trade marks and, in some cases, also between their respective goods and services.