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TRADEMARKS

What is a trademark?

A trademark belongs to intellectual property rights. Our firm’s trademark attorneys can inform you that a trademark can be any sign capable of graphic representation capable of distinguishing the products or services offered by a business.

Our law firm has undertaken the registration of many trademarks for many commercial sectors and our lawyers have also handled many trademark disputes involving trademarks between small or large companies and businesses.

It is the window dressing of a business as it identifies the products or services it provides in the market so that the consumer can distinguish and choose them.

A trademark can be considered any name or name, logo, illustration, number or letter, song or slogan as well as even the shape of a product and our firm’s lawyers will check if it meets the necessary requirements before registering it. The owner of the trademark has every legal right to its exclusive and commercial exploitation as well as its transfer or assignment.

All natural and legal persons have the right to register a trademark, even those who are professionally active abroad.

The levels of trade mark protection are as follows: national trade mark, Community trade mark and international trade mark , and each trade mark depending on the nature and purpose of the product or service it offers can be registered for specific classes of goods or services.

Confusion of the public and other grounds for refusing to register a trade mark

A pre-existing registered trade mark can be an obstacle to the creation and registration of a new trade mark if it is identical to the previous one, as the public may be confused by the similarity between the two. The consumer is likely to be unable to distinguish the difference between the two products and may mistakenly believe that they are derivatives of the same undertaking.

TRADE MARK INFRINGEMENT

In commercial law, the protection of trademarks and signs is predominant. A trade mark may consist of any signs, in particular words or signs consisting of drawings, letters, numbers, colours, the shape of the product or the packaging of the product or sounds, provided that such signs are capable of distinguishing the goods or services offered by an undertaking from those offered by other undertakings. This definition is quite broad and as our firm’s commercial law solicitors have seen in practice there are situations where it is not clear whether a mark is distinctive or is likely to confuse the consumer because of its similarity to an earlier mark. And many times some businesses deliberately register marks that are reminiscent of well-known marks used by their competitors to exploit their own reputations and hijack their clientele.

These cases end up being resolved by the Courts and our firm’s commercial law attorneys. with their experience in trademark litigation cases can represent you in the best way possible.

The law provides for three grounds of inadmissibility, three situations that will result in the refusal to register a trademark or that will provide a basis for someone to seek cancellation of a third party’s trademark:

Where it is identical with an earlier mark and the goods or services for which the mark is sought are identical to those for which the earlier mark is protected.

Where, because of the identity or similarity with an earlier mark and the goods or services identified by the two marks, there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public. That risk consists in the consumer associating the two marks and the two undertakings, even though there is no such association.

Where a trade mark is identical or similar to an earlier trade mark with a reputation and regardless of whether the goods or services for which it is registered are identical or similar or have no connection whatsoever. Of course, when a trade mark in Greece can be considered a “trade mark of reputation”, i.e. when it is known to a significant part of the relevant public by the goods or services it covers, is a matter of interpretation.