| OUR CLIENT’S MARKS | OPPONENT’S REGISTERED MARK |
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ABU DHABI – On 30 July 2017, we filed a trademark application on behalf of our client, Mani Food Products Development Company, for “MANI” in the U.A.E. in class 30. The application was assigned number 277244 and then published in the Official Gazette on 28 February 2018, subject to the opposition period of 30 days.
Société des Produits Nestlé S.A. filed an opposition against our client’s application based on the following:
- The similarity between the marks in sound and appearance;
- Maggi is a well-known trademark registered in several countries and used on products that fall within classes 21, 29, and 30;
- Prior registrations of Maggi in several classes and in different shapes;
- Our client filed its trademark in bad faith, and
- Allowing the registration of MANI contradicts the Trademark Law in the U.A.E. and International Conventions, and will mislead and confuse consumers.
We submitted our counter-statement based on the following:
- Both marks are evidently different and distinguishable by their designs;
- The clear difference between our client’s mark phonetics and the opponent’s;
- Although both marks share the same letters (i.e. M, A, and I), those are general terms and each mark has its own disguise;
- Our client’s mark is derived from the company’s legal commercial name;
- The fact that “Maggi” is a well-known trademark is irrelevant in this matter, thus, our client has no intention or whatsoever of benefiting from the opponent’s mark popularity, and
- The level of awareness among the public consumers in the UAE is high, eliminating the possibility of confusion.
The Registrar accepted our arguments and issued a favourable decision rejecting the opposition raised by the opponent and ordered our client’s application to register.
For more information, please contact uae@qumsieh.com.