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The egg liqueur manufacturer Verpoorten has suffered a defeat in court in a dispute with its competitor Nordik. The Bonn-based liqueur manufacturer had sued Nordik because the competitor used the words "egg, egg, egg, egg, egg" in its advertising, which Verpoorten saw as an infringement of its trademark "EiEiEi Verpoorten".
The Düsseldorf Regional Court had already ruled against Verpoorten in the first instance and allowed Nordik to use the words. The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court has now also rejected Verpoorten's appeal.
What exactly is it about?
Verpoorten had the advertising slogan "EiEiEi Verpoorten" protected as a word mark in 1978. Since then, the company has used the slogan in its advertising and has invested a lot of money in spreading it. Verpoorten considered Nordik's use of the words "Ei, Ei, Ei, Ei, Ei" to be a clear reference to its protected slogan and an infringement of its trademark rights.
The court ruling
The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court took a different view and dismissed Verpoorten's appeal. The use of the words "Ei, Ei, Ei, Ei, Ei" in Nordik's advertising did not infringe the plaintiff's trademark "EiEiEi Verpoorten", according to the court.
The words strung together with commas are merely a factual indication that the liqueur contains eggs as the "core ingredient". The fivefold repetition of the word "egg" does not lead to a decisive change in this traffic understanding, but is only perceived as a further reinforcement of the attention effect or as a forceful expression of astonishment.
The court also found that the overall appearance of Nordik's online advertising showed that the phrase "egg, egg, egg, egg, egg" was merely a reference to ingredients.
What happens next?
The court did not allow an appeal, but Verpoorten can lodge an appeal with the Federal Court of Justice (BHG). The judgment is therefore not yet final.
Conclusion
The egg liqueur dispute between Verpoorten and Nordik shows how important it is to protect your trademark rights. Companies need to think about protecting their Trademarks at an early stage and act quickly if their trademark rights are infringed. In this case, however, the court ruled that the use of the words "Ei, Ei, Ei, Ei, Ei" in Nordik's advertising did not constitute an infringement of the trademark "EiEiEi Verporten.
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