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Jūrate Kaminskiene, Head of Examination Subdivision
Examination of languages other than official national languages - regional
languages or languages understood by a large population in the country
(Situation in Lithuania)
8th LM on Trade Marks
Population by Ethnicity – Lithuania Ethnicity Population (thousands) %
Lithuanians 2721.5 83.9
Poles 212.8 6.6
Russians 174.9 5.4
Belarusians 41.1 1.3
Ukrainians 21.1 0.6
Other 73.2 2.2
Total 3244.6 100.0
Statistical Yearbook of Lithuania 2011 (Department of Statistics under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania)
Europeans and Their Languages, Special Eurobarometer,November – December 2005 (European Commission)
Official language Other most widely known languages
Lithuanian Russian 80 %
English 32 %
Polish 15 %
Knowledge of Languages
Examination of Marks (1) Translation facilities available on the Internet, which
give all possible meanings of foreign words in Latin or Cyrillic characters nowadays are widely used for trade mark examination. Translations are performed for assessment:Distinctiveness of marksDescriptive marksMisleading marksOffensive marksGeographical originSimilarity of marks
Refused word marks Nice Classification
Language
Acta Juris 42 Latin
Intia 30 Finnish
BYŽU 14, 35 Czech
ARTIST Salon de Coiffure 44 French
PASTELLA 29 Italian
IL VERO SAPORE ITALIANO 43 Italian
Moda Italiana 25 Italian
NATURALMENTE 3 Italian
Examination of Marks (2)
Examination of Marks (3)Example of registered mark:
Class 29: milk and milk products
There were some doubts relating to registrability of the mark. The mark is very similar to Lithuanian word Grietinė (sour cream in Lithuanian). Finally, it has been found that mark consists of Latvian female name diminutive form. The mark has been registered.
Appeal of 26 May 2009, DescriptivenessDOLCE GUSTO – classes 30,32.Findings: It is not forbidden to register the descriptive words from other state
language, unless the relevant parties are capable of identifying the meaning of the term (Decision C-421/04 of the Court of Justice).
Independent survey submitted by the applicant: Only 0.6 % of respondents indicated the meaning “sweet taste”, 96.9 % of respondents do not understand the meaning of the mark, 2.5 % of respondents indicated the other possible meanings.
Conclusion: The mark consists of the term of foreign language. The knowledge of Italian language is very small in Lithuania, so the
meaning of the mark is not clear. The majority of Lithuanian consumers would understand the mark as a combination of foreign words.
Appeal of 30 June 2009, MoralityMENAGE A TROIS – class 33 wine.
Findings: Independent survey submitted by the applicant:
98.6% of respondents do not understand the meaning of the term,
1.4 % of respondents understand the meaning, however only in 2 cases they indicated the same meaning as an expert.
Conclusion: The meaning of the term MENAGE A TROIS is not clear for
Lithuanian consumers. They would understand the mark as a combination of the foreign words.
Opposition of 10 September 2007, Similarity
TAZZA D’ORO – class 30.
PIAZZA D’ORO – class 30.
Findings:Visual and phonetic similarity of marks. Italian language is not well known in Lithuania, therefore the
meaning of words would not be known for the average consumer.
The differences in semantics would not balance the criteria of visual and phonetic similarity.
Conclusion: The marks are misleadingly similar.
Opposition of 10 September 2007, SimilarityMAIGUMS – class 30.MAGNUM – class 30.Findings:
The marks are not similar visually and phonetically. Only the first two letters are similar, however both ssyllables are different: MAI-GUMS, MAG-NUM.
The marks have different meanings. MAGNUM - big (Latin), MAIGUMS - delicacy (Latvian).
The differences in semantics are not decisive because Latvian language is not well known in Lithuania. There is only a possibility that the meaning of MAGNUM in Latin would be understandable for some Lithuanian consumers.
Conclusion: The marks are not misleadingly similar.
Summary
Word marks consisting of descriptive words from other state language, in principal, can be registered.
Translations relating to potentially misleading, offensive marks and geographical indications should be viewed more carefully.
Interpretation of the words from other state language gives quite important effect in evaluation of semantic similarity of marks in certain cases.
THANK YOU !
www.vpb.gov.lt; [email protected]
Jūrate Kaminskiene, Head of Examination Subdivision [email protected]
