EU declares trademark ‘Aquagold’ invalid in counterfeiting battle with ‘Aquavit’

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By Vijay Chauhan

Pharmaceutical company ‘Aquavit’ won its trademark in EUIPO against Korean company U-Biomed. Aquavit's micro-channel micro-injector medical device ‘Aquagold’was launched in the year 2014. U-Biomed applied for the same design and trademark, only making minor changes in the small font subtitle from "microchannel technology" to "your time is now". Earlier in 2019, U-Biomed received a temporary restraining order as well as a preliminary injunction from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. 

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In their lawsuit, Aquavit accused U-Biomed of filing their European trademark of ‘Aquagold’in bad faith. Their request was directed against all the goods covered by the EUTM under Class 10 Medical Device of the Nice classification. The EUIPO, in its ruling, held that U-Biomed knew of the existence of the trademark 'Aquagold fine touch', proving that at the time of filing, they were aware that it was causing harm to the invalidity applicant Aquavit and that this harm was a consequence of its "reproachable conduct from a moral or commercial view". U-Biomed's European trademark of Aquagold was declared invalid in its entirety for all the contested goods. U-BioMed has been ordered to bear the cancellation fee and the costs incurred by Aquavit in the course of these proceedings.

By Vijay Chauhan