The opposition against European Union trade mark application No 14 667 174, filed by Velikhov &Co OOD, represented by the team of IP Consulting, Ltd. was based on Article 8(1)(b) EUTMR – identity with, or similarity to, an earlier trade mark and identity or similarity of the goods or services covered by the trade marks, where a likelihood of confusion or association with the earlier trade mark exists on the part of the public in the territory in which the earlier trade mark is protected.
The opposition was based, on inter alia, EUTM registration No 7 559 438, owned by Velikhov &Co OOD. The contested goods in all classes for which the application for registration was filed, namely class 29, 30 and 31, were found identical or similar to varying degrees to the goods on which the opposition was based.
The signs were found visually similar to an average degree and aurally identical. In conformity with the settled case-law, the Opposition Division confirmed that this would result in the contested goods, offered under the contested sign, being perceived as originating from the same undertaking as the goods of the opponent’s goods, or, at least, it may be perceived that there is an economic link between the undertakings offering the goods in question. Moreover, the Opposition Division concluded that the Bulgarian-speaking public may perceive the contested sign as merely the Latin transliteration of the earlier Cyrillic sign.
Considering the above, the opposition was upheld for all the contested goods and EUTM application No 14 667 174 was rejected in its entirety.
