Armani prevails: the General Court rules on trademark similarity in "horizontal lines" dispute

Armani prevails: the General Court rules on trademark similarity in "horizontal lines" dispute

Journal article

1 online resource

The General Court of the EU annulled the decision of the EUIPO Second Board of Appeal, siding with Armani against Shenzhen City Chongzheng Technology Co. Ltd in a legal dispute concerning trademark similarity. The Court found that the Board of Appeal erred by wrongly concluding that the overall visual impression of the marks was significantly different. While Armani’s mark features an eagle’s head and Chongzheng Technology’s mark includes a long horizontal line at the bottom, these are secondary elements, and both marks can be perceived as V-shaped figures comprised of horizontal lines of similar thickness. The fact that consumers retain only an imperfect image of trademarks supports the Court’s finding of (weak) visual similarity. Additionally, the Court found that, having incorrectly concluded that the marks were dissimilar, the Board failed to conduct a global assessment of the likelihood of confusion and dismissed the applicability of art.8(5) of Reg.2017/1001 based solely on this misperceived lack of similarity, without examining the other cumulative conditions. Armani’s appeal was therefore upheld, leading to the annulment of the Board’s decision. In this judgment, it is interesting to note a more permissive approach of the Court compared to other similar cases decided previously.

Crossref

European Intellectual Property Review, 0142-0461 ; E.I.P.R. 2025, 47(6), 357-361

[New York, NY] : Thomson Reuters, 2025.

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