Tilda Riceland Private Ltd v OHIM, EU General Court
In yet another trade mark case concerning food this month, the European Union General Court has ruled against a registered European Community Trade Mark of BASMATI for rice. In overturning the previous decision of OHIM to grant the registration, the Court made the decision based on the opponent – together with other traders – having used BASMATI for many years to show a particular sort of rice from a specific geographic origin. Accordingly, the opponent and others had rights under “extended passing off” and could successfully block a trade mark application for a similar name.
