Monster Energy loses TM appeal at EU General Court
Drinks maker Monster Energy has lost an appeal in an EU court in a trademark dispute. The ruling was issued yesterday, December 14.
Monster had filed the appeal with the EU General Court after the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), in April 2016, dismissed its opposition to a trademark registered by German resident Marco Bösel.
Bösel applied to register a figurative trademark for ‘Monster Dip’ in 2014. The classes covered by the trademark are 2, 37 and 45. These include paints, coating preparations and the painting of vehicles.
Monster opposed the registration, arguing that it would infringe its registered trademarks for ‘Monster Energy’. The Opposition Division of the EUIPO rejected Monster’s claim in April 2016, with the EUIPO also rejecting Monster’s subsequent appeal in February 2017.
Monster’s most recent appeal was brought to the General Court in July last year, seeking a rejection of Bösel’s registration for the trademark and an order for the EUIPO to pay costs.
The court ruled that there was not sufficient similarity in the goods and services covered by each company’s respective trademark to cause confusion over the provider of those goods and services.
Affirming the EUIPO’s decision, the court found that the sections of the “relevant public” who would understand the words ‘monster’ and ‘energy’ would also be able to distinguish between the two brands.
The court ordered Monster Energy to pay costs.
The ruling is another setback for Monster, which has been involved in numerous trademark disputes in the past year.
In September, WIPR reported that the company had unsuccessfully opposed the National Basketball Association’s registration of a trademark in Singapore.
The previous month, the UK Intellectual Property Office dismissed two oppositions brought by Monster against trademark applications filed by UK-based Monsta Pizza and Maylasian company Vem Distribution.
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