In October 2018 a client, who is a proprietor of a registered national trademark contacted us. The client has identified that an identical trademark has been registered as a European Union trademark for identical goods. The registered EUTM is a later mark. It is well known, that EUTMs have an effect on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria. Since the marks are identical and the goods for which the two marks are registered are identical, there is a likelihood of confusion on the part of the consumers, which includes the possibility of linking the later mark with the earlier mark, which means, that consumers will think that the marks belong to one and the same holder. Our client has the right to file a request for the invalidation of the later mark before the EUIPO, but we have advised him to send a cease and desist letter. The client instructed us to prepare and send the cease and desist letter. We prepared the letter in which we provided information about the earlier trademark owned by our client, we compared the two trademarks, compared the goods and concluded that there is a likelihood of confusion for the users. We have given the holder of the later mark a period of thirty days in which to restrict the goods in the registration. We sent the cease and desist letter by fax and e-mail to the industrial property representatives who have registered the EUTM. We have also provided the representative with a copy of the certificate for registration of the earlier national trademark of our client.
