7UP can't keep up opposition to COOL UP LEMON AND LIME

The Athens Administrative Court of First Instance has affirmed a Trademark Committee decision to dismiss the opposition by Seven Up International to the registration of COOL UP LEMON AND LIME (Decision 2839/2004, June 22 2004).

Greek company Value Brands Epe sought to register the mark COOL UP LEMON AND LIME for beverages in Class 32 of the Nice Classification. Concentrate Manufacturing Company of Ireland, trading as Seven Up International, filed an opposition on the basis of its prior 7UP mark registered for the same products and its series of marks including the word 'up'. The Trademark Committee rejected the opposition and Seven Up appealed.

The Athens Administrative Court of First Instance affirmed the committee's decision. The court reasoned that as COOL UP LEMON AND LIME is made up of many words while 7UP is made up of only two elements, the visual and phonetic impression created by the marks is sufficiently distinctive to avoid any likelihood of confusion. It also reasoned that Seven Up could not claim exclusive rights in the word 'up', even for a limited range of products. Accordingly, it allowed COOL UP LEMON AND LIME to proceed to registration.

Eleni Lappa, Dr Helen Papaconstantinou & Associates, Athens