A company registered the name "Mazor" as a non-stylized word mark, despite knowing that another company had been using the name commercially for several years.
The IP Adjudicator ordered the expungement of the trademark from the Register. The registration of a trademark is intended to protect the trademark owner's reputation, prevent deception of the public, and facilitate fair trade. A trademark registered despite being ineligible for registration due to a lack of inherent or acquired distinctiveness, or where its registration constitutes unfair competition or was effected in bad faith, shall be expunged from the Register. Here, the word "Mazor" is a Hebrew dictionary word describing a general service of a cure or remedy and thus lacks inherent distinctiveness. The word alone did not acquire distinctiveness identified solely with the company. Moreover, the registration was effected in extreme bad faith - the company exploited the registration to block a competitor using the name, rather than to prevent public deception. Therefore, the trademark was expunged from the Register.