Question 3

Ricardo is an Italian chef who works in a renounced Italian restaurant in Singapore. He observes that Singaporean youths have increasingly adopted a western palate and especially like to eat Italian pasta. He is collaborating with a few Singaporean friends to start a business to provide "ready-to-eat" pasta sold in food vending machines. After much research and development, he perfected the art and science of cooking pasta using fresh ingredients, and subsequently freezing them in a box, ready to be installed into food vending machines for instant "heat and serve". The investors have pooled together funds to obtain vending machines and have contracted to install these machines in various schools, polytechnics and universities.

The pasta is packaged in environmentally friendly boxes, with a logo with the words "Pasta in Box" in white font, encapsulated in a black chef hat with a plate of line-drawn pasta, as displayed in Figure 1. Ricardo and his friends wish to trademark this logo under Class 30 of Trade Mark classifications for "rice, pasta, and noodles". However, this has been opposed by a company who currently holds a trademark in the same class for a logo with the words "Ramen In Box" in black font, captured in a white chef hat, with a bowl of line-drawn noodles and a pair of chopsticks, displayed in Figure 2.

"Ramen In Box" is owned by a local company that supplies frozen Japanese ramen noodles packed in boxes which can be reheated to serve instantly. These products are sold in the frozen food sections in supermarkets and convenience stores.

Ramen Pasta In in Box Box Figure 1 Figure 2