Post by account_disabled on Mar 13, 2024 3:26:53 GMT
The registration of the designation of a beer style with the National Institute of Industrial Property (Inpi), even as a brand, should not prevent competitors from mentioning it on the labels of their products. After all, it is an expression of common use, which cannot be appropriated exclusively.
Disclosure
Fassbier Brewery seeks exclusivity in court for the term helles Reproduction
This was the understanding applied, by majority, by the 6th Civil Chamber of the Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Sul when overturning an injunction , granted at the end of June, which prevented Cervejaria Portugal Mobile Number List Abadessa, from Pareci Novo (RS), from using the designation helles (clear/limpid/bright, in German) for one of their beers.
The dispute began in January 2019 after Cervejaria Fassbier registered the name of the beer style as a trademark. To prevent competitors, it began sending extrajudicial notices stating that it had been the exclusive holder of the trademark registration with Inpi since August 2007.
Against the Abadessa brewery, one of the main manufacturers of the beer style in Rio Grande do Sul, Fassbier asked the court for the competitor to be prohibited from using the brand, in addition to material and moral damages.
Judge Cláudia Brugger, from the 4th Civil Court of Caxias do Sul, granted an injunction prohibiting the Abbess from using the expression helles . "There is a danger of damage, since the registration of the brand gives the applicant the exclusive use of the brand until the end of its term," said the judge, setting a daily fine of 5,000, limited to R$50,000 in case of non-compliance. .
The Abbess filed an appeal, asking the Court of Justice to reform the decision. Lawyer Vanessa Oliveira Soares , from Cesar Peres Advocacia Empresarial (CPAE), acted in defense of Cervejaria Abadessa.
The rapporteur of the appeal in the 6th Civil Chamber, judge Eliziana da Silveira Perez, voted to maintain the injunction. However, the rapporteur was defeated. The divergence opened by judge Ney Wiedemann Neto prevailed.
According to the judge, there was no evidence of misuse of the name or brand, considering that the author's registration is for the name helles , which is nothing more than the designation of a style of beer. Therefore, in common use.
Wiedemann emphasized that the defendant's brand is ''Cervejaria Abadessa'', not ''Helles''. And that this word printed on the label is intended to inform the consumer about a category of beer, which differs from others due to aspects of color, flavor, strength, ingredients, production method, recipe, history or origin. As occurs in the styles of lager, pilsen, weissbier, india pale ale, red ale and even munich helles , among others.