Writing in International Law Office, Mads Marstrand-Jorgensen (Norsker & Co) tells of the 26 March decision of the Danish Maritime and Commercial Court in Holmegaard v Erik Bagger (Case V-37-07). This case arises from the introduction by Danish glass factory Holmegaard in 1990 of a new product series named Opera; Holmegaard did not however register the word as a trade mark. In 2004 Erik Bagger introduced a series of glass products that also made use of an "opera" theme, alluding to the fact that the glass was designed for and sold to the restaurant in Copenhagen’s new opera house. Erik Bagger used a variety of designations for the glasses, including “designed for the opera”, “the opera glass”, “opera glass”, “the glass series of the opera”, “the Copenhagen opera glass series” and “designed for the restaurants of the opera”. Erik Bagger applied to register Opera a a trade mark in August 2004; Holmegaard opposed and sought to prevent Erik Bagger using the term.

The Maritime and Commercial Court accepted evidence that Holmegaard had been using the designation Opera for glass since 1990 and had acquired an unregistered trade mark right to it. Since Bagger’s use of the designation Opera caused a likelihood of confusion between the parties' respective products, injunctive relief would be ordered against use of the designation “the opera glass”; the designations “the glass series of the opera” and “designed for the restaurants of the opera” were however descriptive uses of the term that did not infringe Holmegaard's rights. No damages based on actual loss were ordered, but Erik Bagger was ordered to pay compensation in respect of his use of Opera.