Chilean restaurant wins trademark case against retailer Oxxo

Femsa, the company that owns Latin American convenience store chain Oxxo, has failed in its opposition to a trademark registered by a Chilean restaurant.

In September 2015, the owners of the Ox restaurant in Santiago filed a trademark application to register the restaurant’s name.

This was opposed by Femsa, which owns the Oxxo chain with 13,000 stores across Latin America, including in Chile.

The National Institute of Industrial Property of Chile ruled in favour of the restaurant by accepting the registration in classes 29 and 35, which cover fish, fruits, vegetables and their commercialisation and trading, in October and November 2016 respectively.

This decision was then confirmed by the Industrial Property Court on Tuesday, June 6.

Juan Pablo Silva, attorney at Silva, which represented the restaurant said: “The Ox clients are a reduced and specific target—they can easily see the difference between a luxury restaurant and a convenience store.

“This was also demonstrated by the existence of other brands that contain the letters Ox in other classes and they have not produced any inconvenience in the market.”

Ricardo Montero, also an attorney at Silva, added: “We were able to demonstrate that they could coexist peacefully in the market, without leading to any mistake or confusion to consumers.”

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