this pastel toneswith pure messages self-affirmation and children’s drawings are not exclusive to Mr. Great. At least that’s the owner Valencia’s commercial court no. 5denied the Catalan company’s claims and denied the claim who submitted vs. Ale-Hop for the use of such design elements in some of its products.
An extremely relevant decision, among other things, because it is what the company demands exclusive recognition of an entire graphic stylesomething contemplated by law, as long as it provides something “competitive singularity”. Thus, the case did not refer to infringement of intellectual property rights by copying a particular design, but unfair competition and especially for disloyal imitation, confusion Y abuse of another’s reputation. In other words, because cow’s signature was considered misleading he was exploiting unjust enrichment at the expense of his reputation, using designs similar to himself to consumers.
Therefore, he demanded that any product that, in his opinion, imitated his style be removed from the market and destroyed, and compensation for the alleged damage caused.
However, they counterattacked from Ale-Hop. denying that any counterfeit exists and the elements Mr. Wonderful intended to claim as his own. public property and in a frame current trend in the marketespecially so-called kawaii gesture, available style Japan Decades through cartoons like Pokemon or Hello Kitty, and in short “sensibility” -the Spanish translation of the aforementioned term- gives childlike qualities to any object.
The Grimalt family business also claimed to have developed this type of design in some of its product lines. Since the birth of the Catalan company in 2012.
“not found”
During the oral hearing, both companies provided different experts and reports to substantiate their arguments, which led the judge to dismiss Mr. Thus, as stated in the decision, “Mr. Wonderful has no graphic style who keeps happiness singularity (competitive)“and that not even “fake” “The fact that only similar conceptual elements are used to realize the designs does not lead to this result, especially considering that the elements used are the elements used in the designs of the kawaii movement”.
Moreover, the provision states that the same elements are included in their design. other market playersthinks they are part of a trend and “should not enjoy special protection for one of the operators”.
Likewise, the judge thinks so. There is no risk of “association or confusion”. Ale-Hop and Mr. Wonderful products”, even highlighting the computational errors and remodeling a survey that Catalan offers as unconvincing evidence. In addition, the judge said that the products of the Alicante company they are only sold in their own business.this further eliminates the possibility of confusion between brands.
Decision appealed
In any case, Mr. Wonderful has already made clear his dissatisfaction with the decision. Appealed in Valencia County Court. In this sense, it should be noted that the company has filed similar lawsuits against other companies such as Dcasa. He initially won a victory in this case, but later the Alicante Provincial Court agreed with the accused and the matter was settled in the Supreme Court. They did not want to make any evaluation from the company.
For themselves from Ale-Hop, they have shown their satisfaction with the decision and feel that their non-fulfillment has been proven. “none of the alleged disloyal actsand what Mr. Wonder is looking for is to claim a private monopoly on something as abstract and popular as this trend”.
Also, “a solid policy of respect for intellectual property rights owning a design department that devotes “significant resources” to the development and preservation of its own creations, designing and preparing “original proposals that are the trademark of the brand”. The firm was represented by Garrigues in this process.