Note
The hereafter reported three decisions were provided to the author by Courtesy of Dr. Gusztáv Bacher, (Szecskay-Attorneys-at-Law).
Facts
In 1957 Sándor Benkó created a music band under the name of Benkó Dixiland Band which became famous not only in Hungary but in several other countries as well. When Sándor Benkó passed away in 2015, the music band ceased to play but members of the band continued to collect royalties based on records, discs, etc.
The son of the deceased Sándor Benkó, who was not member of the music band, after unsuccessful negotiations with the members of the former music band, filed a trademark application identical to the trade name used for more than half a century by his father’s music band.
Against the application the members of the music band filed observations and an opposition.
Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) rejected the observation holding that the application did not mislead consumers, and the observation based on bad faith was not well-grounded. Continue Reading