September 12, 2024

Alo, LLC, the entity behind the leading lifestyle brand ALO, and premium athletic apparel retailer ALO YOGA, recently secured a win in an opposition against the application for trademark registration of the confusingly similar mark ALODERMA. The Bureau of Legal Affairs applied the Dominancy Test, and found that ALODERMA contains the entirety of the client’s highly distinctive ALO mark. ALO is a fanciful mark coined from “air, land, and ocean.”

Alo, LLC was founded in 2007 and started as a company with a mission to bring yoga to the world, and inspire wellness and community through its activewear line. Since then, Alo, LLC has evolved to become a “360-degree lifestyle brand” expanding beyond athletic wear, and into skin care, cosmetics, and fragrance.

The BLA further held that the addition of the term “DERMA” to ALODERMA does little to distinguish the Respondent’s mark from the Opposer’s ALO mark since DERMA when used as a suffix such as in the Respondent’s mark means “skin or skin ailment of a (specified type).” DERMA is merely descriptive of the Respondent’s cosmetic goods in Class 3. Its presence in ALODERMA is negligible, and does not negate the likelihood of confusion with the Opposer’s mark.

The BLA also found the goods covered by the contending marks to be similar or related.  The resemblance between the parties’ marks and the prospective use of the Respondent’s mark for the same goods satisfy the conditions for applying the proscription on registration under the IP Code, as enunciated by the Supreme Court in Mang Inasal Philippines, Inc. vs. IFP Manufacturing Corp. (G.R. No. 221717, June 19, 2017).

Allowing the registration of ALODERMA will also violate Sec. 165.2 of the IP Code, as well as Article 8 of the Paris Convention, which provide for the protection of trade names and business names. However, the BLA, did not address or mention the aspect of trade name protection, despite it being a key issue raised by Alo, LLC in the opposition.