In yet another case of conflicting claims related to trademarks and naming rights, this time it is the Microsoft owned 'Skype' and Rupert Murdoch's television business 'Sky', crossing swords with each other.

In the latest judgment by the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg that was pronounced this Tuesday, Skype has been at the losing end. The Court dismissed Skype's actions, thereby confirming that there existed a likelihood of confusion between the figurative and word signs employed by the two giants in their names. By ruling in favor of Sky, the court maintained the British broadcaster's complaint filed with the EU trademark authority, as early as 2005-2006.

If the trail of events that led to the landmark judgment were to be analyzed, the claims of Sky would, in fact, sound reasonable.

Skype, in 2004, applied for registration of the figurative and word sign 'SKYPE' with the OHIM (Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)). Herein, the endeavor of Skype was to position itself as a community-wide application for audiovisual goods, providing consumers a platform whereby they could conduct voice and video calls via the internet through their computers, tablets, and mobile devices, for free.

Following this, in 2005, British Sky Broadcasting Group, now Sky plc and Sky IP International, who had already applied for the word sign 'SKY' with the OHIM in 2003, filed a suit against Skype. It specifically stated that when capitalized, there was a greater likelihood of confusion between the two names.

In 2012-2013, Sky's assertion was upheld by the OIHM when it confirmed visual, phonetic and conceptual similarity between the names. Tuesday judgment only reiterates this decision.

Thus, it can be safely concluded that the Skype name and logo do run a risk of being confused by users because they sound and look too similar to Sky.

It, indeed, is a battle of names!