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MAX Mara Fashion Group, an Italian high-end apparel
brand, won a case against the local brand Sportsman at the Court of
Appeals, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPO)
said Wednesday.
The IPO said that the appellate
court upheld the agency’s decision in favor of Max Mara Fashion
Group in a trademark infringement case against businessman Perfecto
Tiu who owns the Sportsman brand.
Sportmax and Sportsman are both
apparel brands. Max Mara, which registered its Sportmax trademark in
1990, filed a complaint alleging Sportsman was imitating its marks.
Max Mara alleged that Sportsman
was a “flagrant imitation of its marks as likely to cause
confusion, mistake and deception to the buying public which will
result [in] the dilution of [the] distinctiveness of its
trademark” specifically that of its Sportmax apparel line.
Earlier, Max Mara stated in its
notice of opposition before the IPO that imitation of its marks
would confuse the buying public, resulting in trademark dilution. In
response, Tiu averred that the Sportsman mark carried a different
spelling, meaning and label appearance that would unlikely confuse
or deceive consumers.
The IPO’s Bureau of Legal
Affairs (BLA) sustained Max Mara’s opposition.
IPO said that a trademark should
be protected since it distinguishes the products of an enterprise.
Trademarks are powerful economic assets that serve three main
functions: an indicator of source, a guarantee of quality, and an
advertising tool.
--Katrina Mennen A. Valdez
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