Region: Poland

In an action for cancellation involving the trademark PRYMUS, the Warsaw District Administrative Court has held that the Nice Classification must be used only as an auxiliary tool to decide whether goods are similar. The decision is in accordance with Article 2(1) of the Nice Agreement.

07 July 2008

A new ordinance on the electronic filing and processing of applications for the registration of IP rights has come into force. Under the ordinance, all applications for the registration of inventions, medical products, plant protection products, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, geographical indications and topographies of integrated circuits must be filed in electronic form.

30 June 2008

The Litigation Department of the Polish Patent Office has dismissed Aldi Einkauf GmbH's action for the cancellation of the trademark ALDO S (and design). Among other things, the department held that the trademarks ALDO S and ALDI could coexist on the market as there was no risk of confusion among consumers.

23 April 2008

The Polish government has introduced a bill into Parliament seeking to transpose the provisions of the Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol into national law. The Polish Constitution provides that international agreements should be directly executed by all interested parties, but the administrative courts have not always followed this rule.

04 May 2007

In <i>Trilux-Lenze GmbH v Proelco SA</i>, the Polish Highest Administrative Court has ruled that the registration of a trademark which is identical or very similar to an earlier company name does not automatically constitute an infringement. If the two parties operate in different fields and consumers are unlikely to be confused, the trademark and company name can coexist.

09 October 2006

On remand from the Highest Administrative Court, the District Administrative Court in Warsaw has ruled that a patent attorney firm may not apply, in its own name, for cancellation of a trademark. The court confirmed that patent attorney firms can act in such matters only with instruction from a named client.

04 July 2006

The Warsaw Court of Appeal has rejected claims by the alleged descendant of Polish King John III Sobieski that her moral rights in the Sobieski name precluded third parties' from using the name in relation to vodka. The court found that the plaintiff had failed to establish her moral rights in the Sobieski name and that use of a historical name in commerce is not necessarily precluded.

11 May 2006

The Warsaw District Court has upheld a decision of the Patent Office to cancel the registration of the mark ASPARGIN ESPEFA for pharmaceuticals after finding that the mark contained the senior mark ASPARGIN, which covers the same type of goods. The court found that the use in a trademark of another party's senior mark is contrary to honest business practice.

14 November 2005

Two conflicting cases involving SOPHIA trademarks, which are used in relation to wine from the Sophia region of Bulgaria, have been issued. In one decision, a Polish court ruled that Polish company ELIT-POL has exclusive rights in the SOPHIA marks while in the other, the Patent Office ordered the cancellation of ELIT-POL's rights in those marks.

02 June 2005

In <i>Hortex Holding Ltd v Hortino Ltd</i>, the Warsaw Administrative Court has upheld the Polish Patent Office's decision to strike from the register the mark HORTINO on the basis of its confusing similarity with the earlier, well-known HORTEX mark for the same products.

10 March 2005