This blogger has read the Spanish newspaper El Economista and found a curious case to report from Spain concerning the famous Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
The Spanish Supreme Court (Contentious-administrative Chamber) has recently dismissed the appeal filed by the owner of the “Guggenheim” Spanish trademarks against the registration of the Spanish trade mark for “El huevo frito Indautxu El Huevonheim” for class 43 (bar services, amongst others).
The challenged trade mark deserves some explanation – it reads “El huevo frito” (fried egg) plus “Indautxu” (the name of the district where the Guggenheim Bilbao museum in Bilbao is located – and the applicant is seated there, too) plus “El Huevonheim” ( “The eggnheim”?). So translated the challenged mark would read (in my free adaptation) “The Eggnheim - the fried egg from Indautxu”, being the name of a bar.
A gastronomical note: one of the Spanish culinaire glories are the “tapas”. One of the places to go in the quest for the best “tapas” is the Basque Country (Euskadi - "tapas" are called there "pintxos"), being Bilbao its most populous city and the seat of a remarkable Guggenheim museum. And certainly a good place to go “tapas” (this blogger can tell). Below an example - is this the "Eggnheim" tapa?
Having a branded bar so called in the museum surrounding seemed not to please the management of the world-renown museum. This is probably the application for registration of “El huevo frito Indautxu El Huevonheim” was (unsuccessfully) challenged by the foundation managing the Guggenheim museum not only before the Spanish Trade Marks and Patents Office, but also before the Courts of Justice.
According to the press report, the Supreme Court found that “El huevo frito Indautxu El Huevonheim” mark differed significantly from the prior “Guggenheim” marks. The mere coincidence in the “nheim” suffix in of the terms of the later trade mark (Guggenheim vs Huevonheim) was not enough to generate a “reasonable and objective” risk of confusion.
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