Our client, Walton International Limited, filed an application for the trademark GIORDANO POLO in Saudi Arabia. Said application was rejected by the Registrar due to the similarity with the cited mark POLO No. 345/99 in class 25 in the name of The Polo Lauren Company of United States.
An appeal was filed before the Committee of the Minister of Commerce and Industry to review the Registrar’s decision, but the Committee’s decision was issued to maintain the objection and refused to allow our client’s application to go through with the registration.Our client then transferred the file to our firm and instructed us to file an appeal before the Bureau of Grievances (High Court) against the decision of the Minister.
Our appeal was based on the following:
- The dissimilarity between our client’s mark GIORDANO POLO and the cited mark POLO in terms of pronunciation and general appearance;
- Prior registration of our client’s mark GIORDANO POLO worldwide since 1974;
- The co-existence of both marks in other countries illustrated by the registration certificates issued in respect of GIORDANO POLO worldwide;
- The trademark GIORDANO POLO is registered in the U.S.A (the country of the owner of the cited mark) without any objection;
- The word “polo” is a descriptive word which describes a type of t-shirts, and
- The owner of the cited mark should not be monopolizing this word.
After several hearings before the Board of Grievances, we successfully obtained the requested decision in our client’s favour; application No. 167059 was accepted for the registration of the trademark GIORDANO POLO.
For more details, please contact saudi-arabia@qumsieh.com.
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