Yankees vs Dankees

Yankee vs Dankee, three strikes and your trademark registration is out!

Yankee filed an opposition to a clothing manufacturer called Dankee for trademark infringement. Dankee's argument struck out for three major reasons.

Strike 1: Yankees are a famous Mark
Strike 2: the word "Dankee" appears similar to the word "Yankee"
Strike 3: the word "Dankee" sounds like the word "Yankee" (it rhymes)

Notably, Dankee almost made it on base with one argument. Dankee argued that it has a different "commercial impression" than Yankee, due to the association of the word "Dank" with "cool." Ultimately, the TTAB determined that while Dankee had a different commercial impression from Yankee, that was outweighed by the similarities in sound and appearance, as well as the fame of the Yankee mark.

The lesson for trademark applicants: Merely changing the first letter of a word to differentiate yourself from an existing mark has a high chance of being struck out, especially if the target is a billion-dollar company with millions of fans worldwide.