[E-trademarks] Unicode Watch: Greek Characters from unicode.org In Live Published/Registered Trademarks

[Ken Boone]

The unicode.org website at https://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0370.pdf provides a list of Greek and Coptic characters.

Below, I have attempted to copy their list of characters in sequential order (a transpose of the table from the unicode.org website) with some highlighting of characters that strongly resemble standard characters.  (The 9 ͹ characters are reserved.)

Ͱ ͱ Ͳ ͳ ʹ ͵ Ͷ ͷ ͸ ͹ ͺ ͻ ͼ ͽ ; Ϳ
΀ ΁ ΂ ΃ ΄ ΅ Ά · Έ Ή Ί ΋ Ό ΍ Ύ Ώ
ΐ Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο
Π Ρ ΢ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω Ϊ Ϋ ά έ ή ί
ΰ α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο
π ρ ς σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω ϊ ϋ ό ύ ώ Ϗ
ϐ ϑ ϒ ϓ ϔ ϕ ϖ ϗ Ϙ ϙ Ϛ ϛ Ϝ ϝ Ϟ ϟ
Ϡ ϡ Ϣ ϣ Ϥ ϥ Ϧ ϧ Ϩ ϩ Ϫ ϫ Ϭ ϭ Ϯ ϯ
ϰ ϱ ϲ ϳ ϴ ϵ ϶ Ϸ ϸ Ϲ Ϻ ϻ ϼ Ͻ  Ͼ Ͽ

For example, I highlighted the third and final characters Ͳ and Ϳ of the first row, as these two characters look like the standard characters T and J, but copy/paste those two characters to Trademark Search with the * wildcard operator as in the search CM:( *Ͳ*  *Ϳ* ) and you'll get nothing for your search, as those two Greek characters have yet to appear in the CM field of any trademarks.

Today, the search WD:/.*[α-ω].*/ AND (RD:* PO:*) retrieves 11 live trademarks with Greek characters in the wordmark, namely (in decreasing serial number order)

#
SN
FD
Wordmark
Drawing
Status
1
98658424
07/20/24
ROPLΛSO
[previously viewed                          Image for 98658424, select for more details]
Reg
2
98422358
02/27/24
Μ
[Image for 98422358, select for more details]
Pend
3
98278543
11/20/23
ΜTHORACOTOMY
[Image for 98278543, select for more details]
Pend
4
98217147
10/10/23
PSΨCHOSOMA
[Image for 98217147, select for more details]
Pend
5
98168957
09/07/23
ΜMIST
[Image for 98168957, select for more details]
Pend
6
97836045
03/13/23
ΜDRIVE NEXUS
[Image for 97836045, select for more details]
Pend
7
79408331
08/02/24
ΤΙΤΑΝ ADS
[Image for 79408331, select for more details]
Pend
8
79406202
07/09/24
Α
[Image for 79406202, select for more details]
Reg
9
79401041
06/24/24
3PBIOVΙAΝ

[Image for 79401041, select for more details]
Reg
10
79399276
05/22/24
SLASH β PLUS
[Image for 79399276, select for more details]
Reg
11
79397506
04/02/24
ΑAI
[Image for 79397506, select for more details]
Pend
Any surprises?  Any comments? Well, I get the comments started.

__________

αAI, the 11th trademark, was published for opposition on Tuesday.  αAI was the literal element provided and matches the drawing, except USPTO processing changed that literal element to ΑAI, where the first letter Α is the Unicode letter with decimal value 913, the upper case of the Greek α character. (In this case, is that conversion to upper case deceptive?)

Curiously, αAI was published as a stylized text mark.  (That is, the design code 280105 {https://tmdesigncodes.uspto.gov/category/28#28-01-05} was not included for the Greek character α in the mark.)

The raw Madrid application shows ALPHA AI. was included as a MARK TRANSLITERATION statement, though I do not see a transliteration statement in the official record on TSDR.  Perhaps the EA saw that transliteration statement in the original application and assumed that transliteration statement was included in the official record. (My point: neither the design code 280105 {https://tmdesigncodes.uspto.gov/category/28#28-01-05} nor the keyword ALPHA occur in the CM search field for the Greek character α in the mark.)

The mark consists of the Greek letter 'alpha' followed by the letters AI. was added as a description of mark in the 04/14/25 Response to Office Action<https://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn79397506&docId=ROA20250414201040&linkId=10> (so including the DE search fields for your likelihood of confusion search strategies might be a good idea).
__________

For the first trademark, Λ is the Greek character in the wordmark ROPLΛSO. Again, the USPTO neglected to add the design code 280105 for the Greek character appearing in the drawing and wordmark. I expected the first character of the wordmark to be + (the plus sign), as + is a standard character, but instead the USPTO added the 24.17.06 - Plus symbol (+) design code.
__________

For trademarks #2, #3, #5 and #6, I would have preferred that the standard character µ was substituted for the Greek Unicode character μ in the wordmark, as standard USPTO processing converted the lower case Greek Unicode character μ to the upper case Greek Unicode character Μ.  Then again, I've frequently complained that the conversion of lower case characters to upper case characters was inappropriate, altering the commercial impression of the mark (but what do I know about commercial impressions?).  Curiously, none of the trademarks with the upper case Greek Unicode character Μ in the wordmark have progressed to registration yet.
__________

For the 8th trademark, I would prefer //A with the standard character A as the wordmark, as searches for both / and A are easily constructed.  The Greek Unicode Α is deceptive, plus the USPTO again failed to add the 280105 design code for Greek character in the wordmark/drawing.  Apparently the USPTO has failed to provide a warning/flag for Pre-Exam for Greek characters occurring in wordmark entries.
__________

For #9 (3PBIOVΙAΝ), did you recognize both of the two Unicode Greek characters in the wordmark?  (Well, maybe I miscounted.)
__________

For the 7th trademark (ΤΙΤΑΝ ADS), would ΤΙΤΛΝ ADS be a more accurate wordmark entry?
__________

Adding the design code 280105 criteria to the original search (i.e, WD:/.*[α-ω].*/ AND (RD:* PO:*) AND DC:280105 ) shows that only 3 of these 9 trademarks with Greek Unicode characters in the wordmark have the Greek characters design search code.  Then again, the USPTO usually does NOT add design codes to standard character marks (3 of the 9 trademarks), as by rule design codes usually only apply to design only or design and text trademarks, not standard character marks, typed drawings, or sensory marks, but like most rules, there are exceptions (e.g., LD:true AND MD:( standard typed stylized) AND DC:* indicates there are at least 1091 exceptions to that rule.)

The WD:/.*[α-ω].*/ AND LD:true search retrieves 30 trademarks today (32 without the LD:true criterion). I hope the criterion WD:/.*[α-ω].*/ retrieves all live trademarks with Unicode Greek/Coptic characters in the wordmarks, but how can we tell?


Happy Unicoding,
Ken Boone

PS: The search LR:true NOT LD:true retrieves 0 trademarks today versus 20 trademarks yesterday, so the USPTO has corrected (again) that bug in the search system.
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