EU IPO bubble burst by EU General Court over Coca Cola dispute

After multiple set backs by the EU Intellectual Property Office, Coca Cola has something to celebrate today after the EU General Court ruled in their favour on an opposition bid.

This dispute started in 2010 in which Coca Cola opposed an application made by Mitico who made an application to protect ‘Master’ for food and beverages.

The basis of Coca Cola’s opposition was the font style of Mitico’s application, which Coca Cola argued was too similar to the font for which they have registered a number of trade marks. They claimed Mitico’s mark was reminiscent of Coca Cola’s trade marks.

Upon hearing the opposition, the EU Intellectual Property Office rejected their opposition, finding the two marks were not similar and therefore there was no likelihood of confusion between them.

Coca Cola sought to challenge this decision and asked the EU General Court to consider the claim. In December 2014, the EU General Court annulled the EU Intellectual Property Office’s decision.

On the basis of the Court’s judgment, the EU IPO made another decision a year later.

Again, they rejected Coca Cola’s opposition once again, stating that Coca Cola had failed to establish the existence of a risk of commercial free-riding.

Coca Cola was not happy with this and again sought the assistance of the EU General Court.

The EU General Court laid down their judgment this week and stated that the EU Intellectual Property Office has erred in their judgment of 2015 in which they had incorrectly analysed the evidence and held Coca Cola had failed to highlight the risk of commercial free riding. The EU IPO had disregarded evidence which demonstrated Mitico’s intention to take ‘undue advantage’ of Coca Cola’s reputation.

On this basis, the EU General Court annulled the EU IPO’s decision once again.

If the EU IPO wants to appeal this, they must appeal to the Court of Justice for the European Union.

As it stands at the moment, however, Coca Cola are fizzing with success while the EU IPO has gone flat.

By Ellis Sweetenham