Facts
The claimant is the owner of the Hungarian mark No.139055
The wording of the mark means Hungarian (small letters) bazar (capitals). The protection is granted for goods in class 16 (newspapers, etc.) and class 35 (publicity).
The defendant published an advertising paper with the title “keleti BAZÁR” which means in English Eastern Bazar.
The claimant sued for trademark infringement. At the same time he requested a provisional injunction.
The defendant requested refusal and said that he had filed a trademark application for the title of the advertising paper, moreover he filed the decision of the Ministry of Culture on the registration of advertising paper. He argued also that the appearance of the two signs is different.
The Metropolitan Tribunal prohibited the defendant from using “keleti BAZÁR” as title of its advertising paper. The court found likelihood of infringement as the dominant element of both signs is the word BAZAR, which grants the distinctiveness. The term keleti in the title of the advertising paper, considering the size of letters, has only a secondary importance and the consumers can believe that the two signs belong to identical proprietor. The class of the claimant’s mark and that of defendant’s title were not discussed. Continue Reading