Glossary
French: imitation de marque
Imitation is the use of a sign similar, but not identical, to an earlier trademark — what US law would call a colorable imitation. Similarity is assessed from three angles: visual, conceptual (intellectual) and phonetic. There is imitation when the signs are similar and they create a likelihood of confusion.
A striking illustration for US readers: the Paris Court of Appeal held that the French mark “PETIT DÉJEUNER DE LA PEAU” infringed the earlier mark “SKIN BREAKFAST” (Paris Court of Appeal, December 17, 2003) — the signs share no letters or sounds, but convey the same idea in translation. Conceptual similarity alone can carry an infringement or opposition case, a point worth remembering when clearing English-language marks for France.
The INPI held EBITDA similar to the earlier word mark EBTILDA (INPI, April 9, 2024, OP 23-3902): near-equal length, six shared letters forming common beginnings (EB-) and endings (-DA), the same three-beat rhythm, with the differing middle sequence too weakly perceptible to offset the overall resemblance. The decision is a good sample of how French examiners dissect signs letter by letter and syllable by syllable — more mechanically than a US DuPont-factor analysis, though the ultimate question (confusion) is the same.
See also: similarity of signs, similarity of goods and services, trademark infringement, trademark clearance search.