Court Orders Withdrawal of Aguardiente Brand in Trademark Dispute
By Vera Abogados
The Superior Court of Bogotá ordered the withdrawal of Aguardiente Antioqueño Real from the Colombian market due to its similarity to Aguardiente Amarillo de Manzanares, and required its producer, FLA, to modify its appearance to continue commercializing it.
The regulatory body also prohibited FLA from promoting and selling Aguardiente Real in the Colombian market if its presentation resembled that used by ILC, the producer of Aguardiente Amarillo de Manzanares.
"The Court concluded that FLA did not make a significant effort to differentiate its product from one already recognized in the market. The product's image, offering format, advertising, and color palette lack sufficient distinctive elements to differentiate it from ILC's Aguardiente Amarillo," stated the Court.
FLA argued that there were differences between the two products: firstly, that the bottle used is conical with a more pronounced angle of inclination; secondly, that the use of green letters on the bottle glass had already been used in Antioqueño Real; and thirdly, that the use of color in the product does not infringe on industrial property rights, as there are other brands.
However, this argument was deemed insufficient, and the Superior Court of Bogotá ruled in favor of Industria Licorera de Caldas, ordering FLA to distribute its product under a new presentation.