In 2013, the Republic of Cyprus requested the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) to register HALLOUMI and HALLOUMI as a Community trade mark, applications which had been rejected, with the result that the Republic of Cyprus appealed to the General Court seeking annulment. decisions of OHIM.
According to a representative of the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry in cooperation with the Legal Service is studying the decision and will assess whether they will appeal the decision of the General Court.
He noted that in any case the name HALLOUMI in Latin characters, is registered in the OHIM (OHIM) as a Community collective mark, which is superior to the trademark. It was only considered appropriate to apply for the simple Community trade mark.
Halloumi, he continued, belongs to the "Foundation for the Protection of Cypriot Cheese called Halloumi", which is chaired by the Director General of the Ministry of Commerce, which means that the product with this name is produced only in Cyprus with specific ingredients and production methods and register of legal users based in Cyprus.
In its judgment today, the General Court dismisses the actions of the Republic of Cyprus and upholds the decisions rejecting the applications for registration of the HALLOUMI and XALLOYMI marks as Community trade marks, as it considers that the marks in question cannot be registered because , as far as the Cypriot public is concerned, of the products for which registration was requested ", as stated in a statement of the Court.
The General Court also rejects the position that the Community trade mark regulation allows the registration of certification marks. It points out that this regulation does not provide for the registration of certification marks or, consequently, their protection. In order for such marks to be registered, they must be registered as individual marks and must not have any of the absolute grounds for inadmissibility laid down in the Community Trade Mark Regulation.
In its decision, the General Court notes, inter alia, that the word "HALLUMI" is written in capital letters in the Greek alphabet and the possibility of its registration can be determined in relation to the Cypriot public, for which the Greek alphabet is used as the basic alphabet. ».
It is noted that an appeal can be lodged against the decision of the General Court within two months, on legal issues.
Source: KYPE