TRADEMARK SUIT OVER SNOW BEER

Even after China based brewer of Snow beer created few obstacles, ‘Snow Globe’ is successfully registered as a trademark in the UK, by a Japanese beer company Asahi.

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) dismissed China Resources Snow Brewery’s opposition to ‘Snow Globe’ on Thursday, August 8, finding that the Asahi’s trademark should proceed to registration.

Asahi after acquiring Fullers a Pub company earlier this year, applied to register Snow Globe as a trademark for “beer, ale, lager, stout and porter; non-alcoholic beers” in February 2018.

On behalf of Fuller their company secretary presented the evidence statement stating that Snow Globe was selected as the name of a seasonal beer to be prepared and consumed during the winter months.

Snow being the most popular beer of the world its maker China Resources who entered into a contract with a multinational brewing company named Molson Coors granting it exclusive rights in the UK market for distribution of Snow beer in December 2017 where quick to file an opposition against trademark application for Snow Globe by Asahi.

In the opposition filed by China Resources, they mentioned six marks, which included a European trademark for the word Snow covering beers and alleged that not only the particular goods and services are alike, but the marks are also alike.

Responding to the opposition filed, Asahi in its defense filed a counter-statement, requesting that the proof of use for their three marks be delivered by China Resources.

The IPO stated that the word Snow has been trademarked in relation to beer a number of times that does not necessarily establishes the fact that the distinctive characteristic of that component has been faded because of its recurrent usage in the market.

However, Leisa Davies on behalf of the IPO found that they could not rely on the first mark of China Resources, since it was an EU trademark. It was inferred by Davies, that China Resources could rely on its other two marks that are registered in UK viz second and third marks as the case of the Chinese company was solely based on the use of its goods and services within the UK.

Davies came to the conclusion on the opposition filed by China Resources that despite the fact the goods were identical and/or very alike, the marks were only conceptually alike to a low degree and shared a medium degree of visual and auditory resemblance due to the shared presence of the word ‘Snow’.

The IPO held that the mark will not be confused directly or indirectly after taking into consideration all the factors. Customers will not see the later mark as a sub-brand or brand extension of the earlier mark, nor will they contemplate that the goods are economically connected to the same enterprise. The IPO also ordered China Resources to pay Asahi £1,300 (Rs.1,03,700.57) as a contribution towards costs.