Novartis beaten to registrar by local company
The Court of First Instance has affirmed a Trademark Office decision to reject Swiss company Novartis AG's application to register 'Tuvigin' for pharmaceutical preparations (Case 142/3/81).
The Trademark Office had rejected the application on the grounds that 'Tuvigin' is confusingly similar to TOLIGIN, a mark that Iranian pharmaceutical company Tolidarou had already pre-registered. Novartis appealed to the Court of First Instance.
The court also rejected Novartis's application, finding that (i) its application covered the same goods as those covered by the pre-registered TOLIGIN mark, and (ii) 'Tuvigin' and 'Toligin' are so similar in appearance and pronunciation as to create a likelihood of confusion among average consumers.
Novartis did not appeal.
Mohammad Badamchi, HAMI Legal Services, Tehran
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