On December 23, the last in this year session of the Intellectual Property Advisory Office for exporters ends
On the fourth Thursday of the last month of the outgoing year, the regular session of the Intellectual Property Advisory Office for exporters ended.
The question of a businessman from Brest concerned a fear of the impossibility to register the verbal designation "Basilik" (Basil) in relation to food and beverage services (cafes, bars, restaurants) of the class 43 of the Nice Agreement.
Fears were dispelled in the response. It was based on the norms of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Trademarks and Service Marks" dated February 5, 1993 No. 2181-XII.
In the case of filing an application for the trademark "Basilik" in respect of such goods of the classes 31 and 30 of the Nice Agreement as "seasonings", "spices" and "herbs of spicy flavor", its registration would be refused.
In accordance with paragraph 1.4. of Article 4 of the Law, it is not allowed to register as trademarks designations, in which the dominant position is taken by signs and (or) indications used to specify the type, quality, quantity, properties, purpose, value of goods, as well as the time, place and method of their production or sale.
In this case, the designation "Basilik" explicitly indicates the type of product and cannot be registered as a trademark.
In the case of filing an application for the same designation in respect of goods such as sweets, sugar, trademark registration would also be refused, since the norm of paragraph 5 of Article 4 of the Law does not allow registration as trademarks of designations that are false or capable of misleading the consumer about the goods.
At the same time, the registration of a service mark for the designation "Basilik", especially in a specific manner of graphic execution, in relation to the services of cafes, bars, restaurants is possible, since this designation does not give a direct indication of the type of goods or services. In this case, there is some indirect indication of the type of seasonings for meat dishes, salads, drinks, pâtés, as well as pickles and marinades served to visitors.
Examples of registrations of the designations "Basilik" and "Basilico" in relation to services of the class 43 of the Nice Agreement are trademarks of the Russian Federation No. 558193 and No. 669708 and international trademark No. 669708. Examples of registrations for such designations in relation to homogeneous services are such Russian trademarks as "Krasny Perets" (Red Pepper) No. 262538 and "Perets" (Pepper) No. 569501, as well as the international trademark "Pepper" No. 1604596.
Due to technical failures on the businessman's mobile device, the consultation was duplicated by phone.
