The Appeal Chamber of the Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovation (UANIPIO) has confirmed legal protection for the combined trademark DZIKA KACZKA in Class 33 of the Nice Classification, covering alcoholic beverages and vodka. The attempt by Bacardi & Company Limited to block the international registration of the mark owned by the Polish company Bzk Tm Sp. z o.o. was rejected in full.
The dispute centred on Bacardi’s opposition to the international registration of the DZIKA KACZKA trademark in Ukraine, because it was allegedly confusingly similar to the earlier registered GREY GOOSE mark. The opponent further argued that the label featuring a bird over water and a natural landscape, along with the bottle design and overall trade dress, could lead consumers to believe that DZIKA KACZKA is an extension or sub–brand of GREY GOOSE vodka. A risk of misleading consumers as to the product’s origin was also asserted.
The Appeal Chamber dismissed these arguments. It was established that the marks share no phonetically similar elements: they differ in the number of letters, contain no similar-sounding syllables, and are distinct in pronunciation and overall perception. The DZIKA KACZKA mark is of Polish origin, which clearly distinguishes it from the French brand. Furthermore, a “wild duck” and a “grey goose” are different birds – and even for consumers without ornithological knowledge, the two trademarks convey entirely different semantic meanings. A visual analysis also revealed significant differences in bottle design and graphic elements.
The Appeal Chamber’s practical conclusion carries important precedential weight: the general “atmosphere” of packaging is insufficient to establish similarity where the key brand elements differ. DZIKA KACZKA and GREY GOOSE were found to be distinct phonetically, semantically, and visually, and the images of a duck and a goose were held not to create a likelihood of confusion.