The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) sided with Wrangler’s opposition against another denim company that wants to use the letter W in their trademark.

Turkish company Denimci Dis Ticaret Pazarlama Anonim Sirketi’s efforts to register W Denim for denim fabric, jeans, dungarees, and other goods conflicted with Wrangler’s W registrations for similar products.Two of the three examples Wrangler provided were stitched Ws, such as the ones seen on the back pockets of its jeans. The third was a solid W. The board found consumers were likely to be confused by the mark and therefore sustained Wrangler’s opposition.

Denimci DisTicaret Pazarlama Anonim Sirketi filed for the trademark in 2019. In its registration mark request, the company described the illustration as a stylized W above the word Denim.The W mimics the appearance of folded jeans, while Denim is used as a generic or descriptive word.

However, TTAB said Denim does not distinguish the marks.The color blue was also claimed as a feature of Denimci DisTicaret Pazarlama Anonim Sirketi’s mark. Though color is not part of Wrangler’s marks, TTAB found the marks visually and phonetically similar because they consist of or prominently feature the stylized letter W and added that Wrangler’s marks could appear in the same color.