The Danish Board of Patent Appeals recently handed down a decision in which it held that distinctive company names no longer will be an absolute bar to the registration of similar or identical names or trademarks. Prior to this decision, a company name that did not describe or otherwise indicate a company's activities or commercial purposes would bar a similar or identical name or mark, even if an applicant's goods or services were clearly different from those of interest to the company whose name was cited. The board was persuaded to alter prevailing practice after an application for the trademark TRIGON in respect of goods in Class 16 (which includes paper goods and printed matter) was refused by the Patent Office on the basis of a citation of a company named Trigon A/S whose registered commercial purpose related exclusively to services in Class 37 (which includes building and repair services). The board saw the absolute bar rule as unreasonable because of the clear differences between the goods covered by the trademark and the services of interest to the company.

In another departure from prior practice, the Danish Patent Office will now consider invented names of individuals and companies to be prima facie registrable. An uncommon foreign surname may now also be registered, provided the name is not known and does not belong to anyone in Denmark.

June 1994 Index