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Intellectual Property - Lithuania

 

Lithuanian case law in the field of intellectual property, including the acknowledgement of trademarks as well known, is largely settled.

 

Article 9(1) of the Law on Trademarks provides that "a mark may be recognized as well known in the Republic of Lithuania if the results of its use or promotion reveal that it is well known in the relevant sector of the public". These conditions are usually interpreted on the basis of the Joint Recommendation Concerning Provisions on the Protection of Well-Known Marks, adopted by the Paris Union for the Protection of Industrial Property and the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization on September 19 1999.

 

In accordance with the aforementioned law, any trademark can be acknowledged as well known, irrespective of whether it is registered.

 

The courts have competence to designate a trademark as well known; this may be done only when a dispute involving another right (eg, in a trade name or another trademark) arises. Even once this has been established, if another dispute subsequently arises and is examined, it is necessary to prove that the trademark is or remains well known.

 

The date on which well-known status is deemed to be established is not necessarily the date of the court's decision. Rather, the prevailing practice is that a trademark is acknowledged as well known from the date on which the contested right originated - for example, the date of the application for trademark registration, as in the Court of Appeals decision in the Chivas Regal Case (2A-161/2004) on June 15 2004. Therefore, in some cases an acknowledgement that a trademark is well known can be the basis for seeking the invalidation of the registration of a later trademark when the formal priority of a well-known trademark post-dates that of the contested mark.

 

The question of consumer recognition of the mark is examined on the basis of the average consumer's perception - that is, according to the criterion formulated by the European Court of Justice. However, depending on the nature of the goods or services covered by the mark, the consumer may be considered as a person having special knowledge (eg, in the field of computing or pharmaceuticals). However, on December 15 2003 the Supreme Court established in the Aquafresh Case (3K-3-1103/2003) that it is unnecessary to prove that a particular mark is the best known of a group of marks used to identify the same goods or services.

 

Nonetheless, in spite of the case law regarding the acknowledgement of trademark as well known, doubts remain about whether the registration of a trademark can be invalidated on the grounds that it is identical or similar to a well-known trademark if the goods or services covered by the marks are not identical or similar.

 

Article 4(b) of the recommendations provides that a trademark can be deemed to conflict with a well-known mark in a number of circumstances, irrespective of the goods or services in question. However, in practice, Lithuanian courts reject cases filed on such grounds. Therefore, if it is impossible to prove a link between the contested trademark and the well-known trademark, and if there are no other grounds on which invalidation may be sought, the status of the mark usually gives no wider protection, which is contrary to the purpose of the protection system.

 

 

International Law Office