By Yevgeny Nezhnov
Gomel’s Spartak Factory has won the exclusive right to use the name Barbaris for its caramels, having asked the Supreme Court to judge the matter. The brand name was long used by various Soviet manufacturers but the recipe used by Spartak remained unchanged, having been registered in 1939, 1970 and 1986. Nevertheless, in April 2010, Barbaris was registered to the Ukrainian company Roshen.
The Appeal Board under the Patent Office refused to allow the Gomel firm to reclaim the name, inspiring the appeal to the Supreme Court.
The decision was made in our favour following a survey which showed that the name is known to almost 89 percent of Belarusian residents, with 20 percent naming Spartak as the original producer of Barbaris; only 5 percent of respondents believed Roshen to own the rights to the name.
The judicial board concluded that the similarity of the names Barbaris and Roshen Barbaris could mislead consumers, so the trademark has been legally protected and awarded to Spartak.
