Luxembourg, 12/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - In its judgement made on Tuesday 12 June, the Court of First Instance ruled in favour of the South African Assembled Investment company, which had been seeking to register the “Waterford” mark at the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM). OHIM's decision to refuse this demand therefore throws the case out of court (case T-105/05).
In 2004, the first chamber at the OHIM appeal rejected the request for registering the Waterford mark for a range of South African wines, which strongly resembled the Waterford mark, previously registered by Waterford Wedgwood plc of Ireland for the glasses it manufactured. According to the appeals chamber, the resemblance of verbal marks would confuse consumers more than the wine glasses, which are strongly part of the collective consciousness with the wine itself.
The Court said that although the glasses and the wine were used together, the public was capable of distinguishing between containers and content and that there was not risk of confusion of conflicting marks. This Court judgement cancels OHIM's refusal and therefore opens the way ahead for the registration of the mark by Assembled Investment for wine.
Michael Dennehey, speaking on behalf of Waterford Wedgwood, pointed out that procedures against Stellenbosch in the USA and Ireland were ongoing. He also declared that he was confident that the rights of the Irish company would be confirmed in the end. Dennehey stated that in the meantime they would be examining the possibility of an appeal against the European Court's judgement. (cd)