On December 19, the Department of Civil Cases of the Senate annulled the judgment of the Riga Regional Court of November 25, 2019 regarding the claim of AS "Air Baltic Corporation" against SIA "Baltic Taxi" for the declaration of invalidity of trademark registration. The Senate recognized that the court has not assessed the circumstances that are significant in determining the deadline for filing a claim; has not considered all the essential elements in assessing the possibility of confusion of the parties' trademarks; has not substantiated the existence of the plaintiff's trademark family at the time of registration of the disputed trademarks, and has not established the moment on which the opposed trademarks became widely known; moreover, when awarding compensation for material damage, the court did not address the assessment of the guilt and lawfulness of defendant’s actions. The case was referred to the court of appeal for a re-examination.

In the case under consideration, AS "Air Baltic Corporation" has filed a claim, stating that it owns a family of trademarks, the common element of which is the word Baltic; more than twenty trademarks are created according to the same principle – the word Baltic is placed on a light green background, using a uniform layout style, made in dark blue letters, in combination with some descriptive word, for example, Bike, Bag, Miles (made in silver letters). The plaintiff believes that the defendant SIA "Baltic Taxi" currently owns trademarks, including "Baltic Taxi", that are registered in bad faith. The plaintiff has requested that the registration of the contested trademarks be declared invalid and has requested that the compensation for material damage be awarded.

The case has the status of a closed case.

 

 

Information prepared by Baiba Kataja, the Press Secretary of the Supreme Court

Tel.: +371 67020396; e-mail: baiba.kataja@at.gov.lv