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NEIM and NEOM Case in Colombia
By VERA ABOGADOS
The Court denied the plaintiff's claims for nullity against the administrative acts that denied the registration of the trademark "NEOM" for goods in Class 3 of the Nice International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.
The Court found that the clothing items identified by the previously registered trademark "NEIM" are normally offered together by the same business with the perfumes and cosmetics that the plaintiff seeks to protect with the contested mark in the same commercial establishments. This shows that there is a clear competitive connection between the goods.
Therefore, since there is a similarity between the marks and a relationship between the goods they distinguish, it must be concluded that they cannot coexist peacefully in the market. They could generate a risk of confusion that would lead the average consumer to assume that the goods have the same commercial origin, which would benefit the plaintiff's business activity if he were to register his mark.
In view of the above, it is also clear that there is a risk of indirect confusion for the average consumer as to the commercial origin, due to the aforementioned similarity. This would lead the consumer to believe that the goods distinguished by both marks come from the same owner. For the same reasons, the Court concludes that there is also a risk of association, as the consumer could mistakenly think that the goods identified with these marks are produced by economically related entities.
In conclusion, the Court found that the plaintiff's claims for nullity were unfounded and therefore dismissed them. The Court also ordered the plaintiff to pay the costs of the proceedings.
Vera Abogados
VERA ABOGADOS ASOCIADOS S.A.-, is a Colombian law firm with specialized lawyers, Founded more than 40 years ago, by Jorge E. Vera Vargas, Doctor in Law and Political Sciences of the La Gran Colombia University in Bogota D.C., Colombia. At present, with principal offices in the city of Bogota D.C., and offices in the cities of Cali, Medellin, Barranquilla, at national level, and at an international level in Ecuador and Panama.
The Firm is today a reference in the Andean Community, and it makes part of important international affiliations such as PRAGMA, EEIG. International Network of Law Firm, The International Trademark Association (INTA), Asociación Interamericana de Propiedad Industrial (ASIPI), Associação Brasileira da Propriedade Intelectual (ABPI), and the Chamber of Industrial Property Agents of the Republic of Argentina(CAPIRA).
VERA ABOGADOS ASOCIADOS S.A. offers professional services to prestigious Colombian and foreign companies in the following juridical areas: Industrial property, Trademarks, Patents, Copyrights, New Technologies, Disloyal Competition, Commercial Practices, Sanitary Rights, Community Right, Administrative law, Tax Law, Corporate Right and Foreign Investment and Business Rights.
The Firm offers of equal way a service of integral consultancy in Foreign Commerce, Business administration, Finance and Accountancy. The team is made up of specialized lawyers in each of the workspaces and expert multilingual professionals (Spanish, English and French) that respond with efficiency and competitiveness to the needs and demands of our customers around the world.