General Court reverses EUIPO cosmetics ruling

A French cosmetics company has convinced the EU General Court to overturn a decision refusing trademark protection for its Naturanove shampoo brand.

Eugène Perma filed to register ‘Naturanove’ as an EU trademark in 2017, but its application was turned down by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

Spanish company SPI Investments had filed an opposition to Eugène Perma’s application, citing its own ‘ Naturalium’ mark covering goods including soaps and hair lotions.

The EUIPO, in its original decision as well as a subsequent appeal, said the mark was likely to cause confusion with the ‘Naturalium’ brand.

Eugène Perma appealed to the General Court, arguing that the EUIPO overestimated both the similarity between the marks, and the distinctiveness of the ‘Naturalium’ brand.

The General Court agreed, ruling earlier this week that the EUIPO was wrong to block ‘Naturanove’ from registration, and overturned the decision.

According to the General Court, the level of similarity between the marks was “low”, rather than “average”, as determined by the EUIPO.

“As regards the two endings ‘lium’ and ‘nove’, despite their containing the same number of letters, they are completely different, so that, as the applicant submits, they differ radically, both visually and phonetically,” the court said.

The EUIPO should have also taken into account the “weakly distinctive character” of the common ‘Natura’ component, the court added.

In light of these facts, there was little likelihood of the public confusing the two brands, the General Court found.

The EUIPO was ordered to pay costs to Eugène Perma for the legal proceedings.

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