James Pond for over 25 years
Remarkably, the character James Pond has existed for more than 25 years. As early as 1990, James Pond appeared in a video game featuring secret agent Fish, who had a “licence to gill” (a pun on “licence to kill,” with “gill” referring to fish gills). Later, James Pond: Robocod was released, a game that is still playable on many systems today. For some reason, Danjaq apparently never objected to this clear parody of James Bond.
Keeping the trademark register clean
In this case, Danjaq seems primarily concerned with keeping the trademark register “clean.” That is understandable. If more similar marks are registered, the strength of your trademark can diminish. This is known as dilution, which reduces the scope of protection of your mark. For that reason, Danjaq successfully opposed a European trademark application for the same mark James Pond back in 2013.
Reputation
I have little doubt that Danjaq will once again prevail in the UK, just as it did in the EU in 2013. This is mainly due to the strong reputation and widespread recognition of the James Bond brand. Although consumers are unlikely to confuse James Pond with James Bond, they will certainly make a connection between the two. James Pond is clearly trying to benefit from the strong reputation of James Bond. Well-known trademarks, with their broader scope of protection, can usually prevent this type of registration.
Bas Kist
