Cock-fight
20.09.2000
On June 20, 1989, the Le Coq Sportif (i.e. the sportive cock) Company filed a figurative mark which represents a stylized cock within a triangle. This mark designates particularly clothes.On September 12, 1995, the Pathé Company, known in the cinematographic field, filed the complex mark representing a stylized cock within a rectangle at the foot of which the word "PATHE" is written, in order to designate particularly clothes.
The Le Coq Sportif Company formed an opposition against the registration of this mark to designate clothes.The Director of the French Patent and Trademark Office has decided in the Opposant's favour. The Pathé Company appealed against this decision.The Appeal Court of Paris maintained the decision of partial refusal of the registration on September 24, 1997.The Pathé Company appealed to the Supreme Court against this decision ; the Supreme Court confirmed the validity of the decision of the Appeal Court ;. the mark of the Le Coq Sportif Company was applied without claiming any color, its protection is therefore not limited to the colors used in the trade ;. the Le Coq Sportif Company does not appropriate the kind or the theme of the cock, but it protects a composition of arbitrary elements to designate clothes, i.e. the image of a stylized cock, raised in profile, the crop being blown, the tail being composed by three sickles ; these elements being in the mark application of the Pathé Company ;. the notoriety of the denomination Pathé in the cinematographic field does not extend to the clothes field and it does not allow to prevent from the risk of confusion on the cock representation.The granting of the complex mark is therefore refused to designate clothes.The cited trademarks are the property of their titular.Cour de cassation (Supreme Court), May 16, 2000
