Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: 32 Cdo 3895/2007
    • Member State: Czechia
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Supreme court decision
    • Decision date: 01/08/2008
    • Court: The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic (Brno)
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: V.-C., s.r.o.
    • Defendant: E. a.s.
    • Keywords: confusion, trade mark
  • Directive Articles
    Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 6, 2., (a)
  • Headnote
    The average consumer's standard of observance should be considered in accordance with article 18 of the Preamble of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. 
  • Facts
    Both the plaintiff and the defendant are producers of stockings marked with the same trademarked word "E".

    The plaintiff, as the original producer of the product marked with the said trademark, first claimed the protection of its rights pertaining from the said trademark four years after the defendant had been selling its products under the same trademark.

    The plaintiff claimed further protection of its rights, particularly for the labeling of the defendant's hosiery products to omit the word "E.", an obligation for the defendant to withdraw these products from the market and to destroy the products' containers, and a financial compensation amounting to CZK 200,000.

    Conversely, the defendant claimed that the word "E" is only a part of its trademark, a supplement to the name of the company. The defendant stated that this could be easily recognized from the packaging of the product.

     
  • Legal issue
    In a short reasoning, the court approved the plaintiff's claim that its rights had been breached by the defendant's actions.

    The court based its decision on the definition of the average consumer. According to the court, all factual evidence should be taken into consideration. The court also stated that the average consumer's standard of observance should be considered more strictly, this in accordance with article 18 of the Preamble of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.

     
  • Decision

    On what basis should the average consumer be assessed?

    Full text: Full text

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  • Result
    The amount of financial compensation claimed by the plaintiff was reduced to CZK 40,000.