The Court of Second Instance has denied an appeal by Galaxy Entertainment Licensing Limited (Galaxy) for an action against Wynn Resorts Holdings, LCC regarding brand confusion, according to a court statement released yesterday. The case dates back to 2013 when Wynn registered a trademark for the use of the ‘SW’ logo in drinks and food at the Intellectual Property Department of the Macao Economic Services (DSE). Galaxy contested the trademark on the grounds that the consumer would be induced to confuse the logo with that of StarWorld Macau Casino, belonging to the Galaxy group, an argument rejected by the Judiciary Council of Macau. Galaxy then appealed to the Court of Second Instance. The court considered that although the brand comprises only two letters, they have enough distinctive capacity for a basic trademark, thus the ‘average consumer wouldn’t associate the ‘SW’ logo with the recurring image from ‘StarWorld’. In fact, in this case there is no cause or fundament to support the association since ‘SW’ can be the abbreviation for many words,’ reads the court statement.
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