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