On 25 April 2006, Żywiec Group applied for trade mark protection for the CODE Z-310020 sign for goods in class 32 such as beer. However, during the application proceedings the Polish Patent Office found that there existed an obstacle in the form of earlier international trade mark registration owned by the Albert J. Weber Company from Switzerland which was registered among other things for goods in class 32 such as beer, mineral and carbonated water. Żywiec Group filed a motion for a declaration of the expiry of Albert J. Weber’s trade mark before the Polish Patent Office. The trade mark holder did not defend his registration and hasn’t produced any evidence of its use on the Polish market. The Polish Patent Office in its decision of 10 September 2008 act signature Sp. 470/07, set the date of expiry of protection right for CODE IR-0693581 trade mark on 9 October 2007 – the date a request for declaring the expiration was filed.

Categories: Art. 169(1)(i) IPL | Polish Patent Office | trade mark lapse | trademark law.