In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal of Malta held that the owner of a mark of "international repute", who had registered the mark outside of Malta, but had neither used nor registered the mark in Malta in respect of the relevant goods, could prevent registration of the mark by a third party.

Henson Associates Incorporated, worldwide owners of the MUPPETS mark, opposed Rimus Riley Ltd.'s trademark application for MUPPETS in respect of certain food products on the grounds that Rimus intended to benefit from the goodwill of the world-famous MUPPETS trademark, and that such use of the mark would constitute unlawful competition, since it would cause confusion among consumers. In defense of their application, Rimus claimed that there was no confusing similarity between use of the mark on their food products and the international reputation of the mark derived from the television program, "The Muppet Show," and that, since there were no MUPPETS products on the Maltese market, the claim of unlawful competition could not be sustained.

The Court held that there could be no unlawful competition, since the opposer did not have a presence in the Maltese market and, consequently, there was no "competition." However, the Court, relying on the language of the Industrial Property Ordinance that states "the marks and words (considered to be trademarks) must be different from those already used by other persons," decided in favor of the opposer. Since the opposer produced certificates of registration for the MUPPETS mark in various countries outside of Malta in the same class of goods included in Rimus' application, the Court held that this constituted "use" within the meaning of the Ordinance. The Court also agreed with the opposer that names with an international reputation, such as MUPPETS, are assets which have distinct market value and that it is obvious that their owners would seek to profit therefrom by extending their commercial use to various products