DOMAS opposition success for DIMAS mark owner

The Board of Appeal of the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania has upheld an opposition against an application to register a series of DOMAS marks (Case 2Ap-958, May 31 2007).

"Gitana" Filialas Techninis Tiekimas AB (LT) filed an application to register the following trademarks: DOMAS HOBBY, DOMAS PROFESSIONAL, DOMAS STANDART AND DOMAS for goods in Classes 7 and 8 of the Nice Classification. Husqvarna AB (SE) opposed on the basis of its DIMAS, DIMAS DURADRIVE, DIMAS INTELLISEAL, DIMAS EZSET, DIMAS SMARTTRACK, DIMAS EASYFIT and DIMAS AUTOFEED marks registered for identical and similar goods in Classes 7 and 8.

Husqvarna argued that the dominant parts of each mark were the terms 'DIMAS' and 'DOMAS' respectively as the other words were descriptive of the relevant goods. The board agreed and also upheld Husqvarna's claim that the marks were visually and phonetically similar.

Further, the board reasoned that although the word 'DIMAS' did not have any real meaning in Lithuanian, consumers may associate it with the abbreviation of the Russian name Dmitrijus; whereas the 'DOMAS' element of the contested marks may be viewed as an abbreviation of the Lithuanian male name Dominykas. Despite this, the board concluded that the visual and phonetic similarities outweighed any slight conceptual difference between the marks. Consequently, it upheld the opposition against registration.

Loreta Pazeraite, Law Firm AAA Baltic Service Company, Vilnius