The Chamber for Patent Disputes of Rospatent satisfied the objection of the Italian company Ferrari and canceled the certificate for the Ferre trademark in the name of an individual entrepreneur from Russia.
The Italian company stated in its claim that its previously registered trademarks are confusingly similar to the contested individual entrepreneur trademark.
The Ferre combined trademark was registered back in 2016 for Class 6 goods.
The signs of the Italian company include the word Ferrari, executed in a stylized font in letters of the Latin alphabet with a characteristic letter “F”, the upper stick of which is elongated and continued up to the last letter of the word – “i”. According to the claimant, the elongated letter “F” is one of the most memorable elements in Ferrari signs, easily recognized by consumers and associated with this company.
The contested trademark also contains the verbal element “Ferre”, executed in the letters of the Latin alphabet, while the font and the elongated stick of the letter “F” are identical to the opposed signs, the Italian car manufacturer believes. In addition, the dominant part of “Ferr” located in the starting position is identical.
According to Ferrari, the verbal elements of the compared trademarks are characterized by phonetic and graphic similarities, while differences in additional figurative elements are of secondary importance.
Also, the automaker submitted to Rospatent the professor’s conclusion on the similarity of signs, the results of a sociological study, according to which 27% of respondents answered that goods marked with Ferrari and Ferre TM are produced by the same manufacturer or manufacturers that are related to each other. Ferrari also provided a copy of the decision in a similar case in China.
Rospatent sided with Ferrari and completely canceled the legal protection of the Ferre trademark.