WYHO? Red Sox and White Sox Oppose "e.SOX" for Cellphone Sleeves

Here we go again, Hot Stove Leaguers! The Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox have teamed up to oppose the application of Digital Access, Inc. of Carson City, Nevada, to register the mark e.SOX for "Protective sleeves for electronic devices, namely, cellular phones, cameras and MP3 players, sound and video recorders and players." [Applicant claimed the mark in the special form shown below]. Would you have filed this opposition? Or maybe the better question is, do you think Opposers would win this opposition if it ever went to final decision? Boston Red Sox Baseball Club Limited Partnership and Chicago White Sox, Ltd. v. Digital Access, Inc., Opposition No. 91193106.


Opposers assert (without specifically citing the statutory sections) that this mark would likely cause confusion and/or false association with their various SOX marks.

Putting aside the admittedly descriptive connotation of the "e" prefix, as well as the obvious descriptive connotation of "sox" for the involved goods, what about these ESOX?

Edina, Minnesota ESOX
And what about these Esox?

Esox (pike fish)
And what would you call electrically-heated socks?


So I get the feeling that the White Sox and Red Sox are not really expecting to win this opposition. I suspect they just want to extract some restrictions out of the applicant, or maybe run it off the court (so to speak).

Text Copyright John L. Welch 2009.