European justice annuls the registration of Aldi's 'Gourmet' as a protected brand at the request of a Girona company

BRUSSELS, March 1 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The General Court of the European Union has annulled this Wednesday the registration as a protected trademark in the community market of 'Gourmet' obtained by the Aldi supermarket chain for lines of its food products when estimating the appeal presented by the Girona company Transgourmet Ibérica that alleged that an earlier and identical Spanish brand name already existed.

The European Justice thus annuls the decision of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to reject the appeals of the Spanish brand against the petition filed in 2009 by Aldi to protect several of its products in Europe under that brand, therefore that the European office must analyze the case again and make a new decision in accordance with what was dictated this Tuesday by the European High Court.

The European Office defended the dismissal of Transgourmet Ibérica's appeal because it considered that the Spanish company had not demonstrated effective use of the sign as it had been registered during the five years prior to Aldi's request.

Thus, it considered that the evidence did not demonstrate use as a trademark and, at the same time, that some evidence demonstrated use of the trademark in a way that altered its distinctive character.

In its ruling, the European General Court concludes that the EUIPO erred in law because it appears to recognize the distinctive character of the earlier national mark, despite which it considered that the single term that made it up was descriptive.

In this regard, the ruling indicates that the fact that a national trademark has been registered implies that it has a minimal intrinsic distinctive character, because trademarks that lack distinctive character cannot be registered, therefore a certain degree of distinctive character must be recognized a national trade mark invoked in support of an opposition to the registration of an EU trade mark. Also, remember that characterizing a sign as descriptive or generic is equivalent to denying its distinctive character.

It also considers that the EUIPO erred in examining whether the 'Gourmet' word mark was descriptive or whether it would be perceived by the relevant public as a descriptive term in the evidence demonstrating use of the earlier mark in the form in which it was registered.