Above the Law reports that the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, makers of Wrigley’s WINTERFRESH® gum, filed an opposition last week to two pending trademark applications for the marks WHAT THE FRESH and WTF. The opposed marks are both owned by Netherlands-based Perfetti Van Melle Benelux BV, and are both intended to be used in connection with “confectionery, namely, candies and chewing gum.” Wrigley alleges in its Notice of Opposition that the WHAT THE FRESH mark is confusingly similar to its venerable WINTERFRESH mark, and that the acronym WTF is not only confusingly similar as shorthand for WHAT THE FRESH, but “also is a common acronym used generally to express indignation, surprise or disbelief.” The article’s author takes a rather dim view of Wrigley’s position, stating:

Honestly, if you want to see just how much companies buy their own hype, peruse some trademark oppositions. It won’t take long to find some company convinced that everyone in the country is so absolutely obsessed with their “brand” that the most tenuously similar marks amount to egregious assaults on their intellectual property.

Regardless of whether one personally buys Wrigley’s argument, it should be interesting to see just WTF happens as the opposition proceeds. Read the full article here, and Wrigley's Notice of Opposition here.

Reposted from Above the Law.