Trademark HAMON cancelled in Bulgaria
SPANISH “JAMON” SAVED IN BULGARIA AFTER COURT DISMISSES APPEAL OF CANCELLATION CLAIM.
The Spanish appellation of origin “Jamon”, protecting the world-renowned Spanish ham, was saved a lot of trouble after the Sofia City Administrative Court confirmed a decision of the Bulgarian Patent Office for cancellation of the trademark “HAMON”, registered for meat products and sausages by a local producer. Another producer, a client of Pavlov & Co requested that the trademark should be invalidated as it duplicated (despite the different spelling) the name of the renowned ham, as well as the Spanish word having the meaning of “ham”. Thus, the trademark could not indicate commercial origin of the product, but rather indicated the type of product it was put on.
The trademark owner replied that the meaning of the word was not familiar to the Bulgarian consumers, and on top of that – the mark had acquired distinctiveness in the course of its use by the trademark holder himself. The BPO reviewed the request and evidence and ruled that the trademark lacked distinctive character as it indicated the type of product, so it cancelled its registration for all meat products.
The trademark owner appealed the decision, trying to further establish that the mark had acquired distinctiveness, presenting evidence of sales of the product “branded with the mark” on the market and claiming that the Bulgarian consumers did not understand its meaning. Here, the main role of the team at Pavlov & Co was to make sure the court was not confused by the evidence presented. The attorneys clearly pointed out that the sign was used, even by the proprietor himself, as an indication of the product being sold, rather than as a trademark. Therefore, there was no way that it has acquired any sort of distinctiveness, as it was never used by anyone as a trademark, including the proprietor. Further, they stressed that the proprietor was not the only importer of Jamon on the market and thus – not the only entity to use the indication. Last, but not least, they proved to the court that a vast majority of the Bulgarian consumers, even those that don’t speak Spanish, are quite familiar with the meaning of the word Jamon and the product itself.
The court reviewed the matter and confirmed the decision of the BPO. The proprietor did not appeal the decision of the court and has now entered into force, effectively putting an end to the case.