Greece: Ruling on ladybird trademarks helps clarify notion of conceptual identity

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Greece: Ruling on ladybird trademarks helps clarify notion of conceptual identity

Sponsored by

patrinos-logo.png
windows

Evangelia Sioumala of Patrinos & Kilimiris looks at a recent judgment from the Athens Administrative Court of First Instance that compared conceptually and visually similar images

In a recent case brought before the Athens Administrative Court of First Instance, it was considered whether there is a likelihood of confusion between purely figurative trademarks showing conceptual identity. 

In particular, the contested trademark consisted of an image of a ladybird in a cartoon-like illustration – facing left – filed to cover goods and services in classes 3, 28 and 41 (Figure 1). 

ladybird

On the other hand, the earlier trademark, on which the opposition was based, also consisted of a cartoon-like illustration of a ladybird illustrated – as seen from above – that was registered to cover goods and services in classes 28 and 41 (Figure 2). 

figure 2

In its judgment, the court considered the trademarks to be conceptually and visually similar. In particular, the court considered the illustration of the ladybird in the contested trademark to be highly similar to the one of the earlier mark, as the contested trademark was only differentiated in insignificant elements, namely the number of legs and spots, size of the ladybird and the respective orientation. 

Furthermore, the court ruled that the respective goods and services in classes 28 and 41 were identical and given the fact that the average consumer’s degree of attention regarding these goods and services is low, confusion is highly probable to occur. On the other hand, regarding goods in class 3 covered under the contested trademark, it was held that there was no likelihood of confusion, on the finding that the owner of the earlier mark is not active in the specific field of business. 

In view of the above, it is clear that conceptual identity was decisive in the above mentioned ruling, whereas some differentiations in the figurative elements per se of the trademarks under comparison, were found to play no important role as regards the evaluation of the likelihood of confusion, taking into consideration that the goods and services at issue were identical and refer to a market, where the average consumer’s degree of attention is low. 

The ruling is in line with EU case law, according to which in order for likelihood of confusion to be assessed, the interdependence of all factors relevant to the circumstances of the case should be taken into account. 

 

Evangelia Sioumala

Associate, Patrinos & Kilimiris

E: esioumala@patrinoskilimiris.com

 

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

IP STARS, Managing IP’s accreditation title, reveals its latest rankings for patent work, including which firms are moving up
Leaders at US law firms explain what attorneys can learn from AI cases involving Meta and Anthropic, and why the outcomes could guide litigation strategies
Attorneys reveal the trademark and copyright trends they’ve noticed within the first half of 2025
Senior leaders at TE Connectivity and Clarivate explain how they see the future of innovation
A new action filed by Nokia against Asus and a landmark ruling on counterfeits by South Africa’s Supreme Court were also among the top talking points
Counsel explain how they’re navigating patent prosecution matters and highlight key takeaways from Federal Circuit cases
A partner who joined Fenwick alongside two others explains what drew her to the firm and her hopes for growth in Boston
The England and Wales High Court has granted Kirkland & Ellis client Samsung interim declaratory relief in its ongoing FRAND dispute with ZTE
A UDRP decision that found in favour of a small business in a domain name dispute could encourage more businesses to take a stand in ‘David v Goliath’ cases
In Iconix v Dream Pairs, the Supreme Court said the Court of Appeal was wrong to interfere with an earlier ruling, prompting questions about the appeal court’s remit
Gift this article