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"The national court must take into consideration all the relevant factors specific to the particular case," the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said in its decision.
Chocolate bunnies have been a common product for the past 80 years in Germany and Austria. Industrialization and automated wrapping have led to much greater similarity between competing products than in earlier days.
Lindt first made its bunny in the 1950s, and has been selling them in Austria since 1994. German firm Franz Hauswirth GmbH started making its bunny in 1962, and started selling them in Austria in the same year as Lindt.
In 2000, Lindt applied for and received a trademark for its gold bunny with red ribbon and bell. On the basis of this trademark, Lindt started to take action against bunny makers who it felt were making bunnies similar to its bunny.
After a Swiss firm began marketing the Hauswirth bunny in 2003 as a new product, Lindt took both companies to court in Austria. During those proceedings, Hauswirth alleged that Lindt's European trademark should be declared invalid on the basis that it was acquired in bad faith.
The Austrian court asked the European Court of Justice to rule on whether a company has acted in bad faith when it applies for a trade mark despite knowing, or being in a position to know, that the trademarked subject is similar to one being used by competitors, and does so to frustrate the competitor's use of that subject.
The court gave no specific opinion on whether Lindt's trademark was obtained in bad faith.
-By Mike Gordon, Dow Jones Newswires; +352 691 180 766; mgordon.dowjones@gmail.com
(Adam Cohen in Brussels contributed to this article)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-11-09 0422ET
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