ECJ TRADEMARK CASE
March 1st, 2004
BY KEITH NUTHALLDOES 'sir' sound that different to 'zirh'? Maybe it depends on the accent used, but whatever, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that these words are sufficiently contrasting to allow both to be registered as a verbal trademark. It has overturned a bid by Germany's Mülhens GmbH & Co. to block the USA's Zirh International Corp from registering the sound of its name as a trademark in the European Union (EU). This attempt had riled rival cosmetics company Mülhens, which claimed that consumers would confuse the sound 'zirh' with their ...
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