EU-oppositieprocedure o.g.v. ouder Gemeenschapswoordmerk “HASTELLOY” tegen het woordmerk “ASTALOY” voor “Iron-based metal powders for industrial use”. Het BHIM wees de oppositie toe en het Gerecht bevestigt dit. Verwarringsgevaar wordt aangenomen: er is sprake van soortgelijke waar en van een gemiddelde visuele en auditieve overeenstemming (zelfde aantal lettergrepen en zes identieke letters in beide tekens). Begripsmatige vergelijking van de tekens is niet aan de orde, nu geen van beide tekens een betekenis hebben in een taal gesproken in de Europese Unie. Verder is onvoldoende aangetoond dat eerdere coëxistentie van de tekens was gebaseerd op de afwezigheid van verwarringsgevaar.
31 As regards the visual similarity between the signs at issue, the Court considers that the Board of Appeal was correct to state that the signs in question had an identical number of syllables and shared six letters (‘a’,’s’,’t’,’l’,’o’,’y’), combined in the same sequence in two groups of three letters (‘ast’ and ‘loy’) situated at the beginning and at the end of the signs at issue. The Board of Appeal did not err when it concluded that those elements create a visual similarity which is more important than the visual differences between the trade marks at issue, namely the letters ‘h’ and ‘e’ and the double ‘l’ of the earlier sign as compared with the trade mark applied for.
65 However, those affidavits do not constitute sufficient evidence of the fact that the coexistence of the marks at issue was based on the absence of any likelihood of confusion between the marks for the products in question. There are only two such affidavits, neither of which come from one of the consumers of the products at issue.
69 Indeed, even for a professional public which is active in the field of metallurgy and which pays a high degree of attention, it cannot be ruled out that the trade marks at issue could create an association or even confusion as to the commercial origins of the products sold under each of those marks, given the small visual and phonetic differences between the marks at issue and the possibility that they both evoke an alloy.
Lees het arrest hier.
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IEPT20130410, GEU, Höganäs v BHIM
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