Eesti 200 successful in precedent-setting trademark dispute

In cooperation with patent bureau Käosaar, we advised and represented the Estonian political party Eesti 200 (meaning Estonia 200) in a landmark trademark dispute with non-profit organization Eesti Kultuur 200 and its leader Kärt Summatavet.

Registration of word mark opposed

Following the launch of the political party Eesti 200 back in 2018, Summatavet and Eesti Kultuur 200 disputed that the Eesti 200 trademark was already being used by them with Summatavet as the holder of a prior registered figurative trademark Eesti 200 in Nice Classification Class 41 for conducting symposiums and thus, opposed the registration of word mark Eesti 200 by the political party.

The Estonian Intellectual Property Board of Appeals requested both parties of the dispute to provide extensive argumentation in multiple rounds of written statements to support their position. Such requirement by the Board of Appeals is highly irregular for such proceedings and required thorough in-depth analysis from our team.

Landmark dispute

After three years, a decision in favor of the political party Eesti 200 was made when the Board of Appeals dismissed the counterparty’s opposition. The Board also found that the scope of trademark protection is limited to the goods and services for which the mark is registered and cannot be arbitrarily extended to goods and services that may have some link to the listed services. Goods and services for which the political party Eesti 200 have applied protection for are not similar to “conducting symposiums”.

Further to the above, the Board of Appeals found that the prior registered trademark cannot be considered as being well-known or having a reputation that would enable the protection of the mark to be extended to goods and services for which it is not registered.

Our services and client team

Parties to the dispute were requested to provide extensive argumentation in multiple rounds of written statements to support their position, which our team of leading IP specialists, senior associates Mirell Prosa and Olivia Kranich, together with partner Kaupo Lepasepp assisted the client with.

As a result, political party Eesti 200 was able to successfully complete the registration of trademarks Eesti 200 and Erakond Eesti 200.

Our advice was provided in cooperation with patent bureau Käosaar.