The appellant claimed that it had been using the sign for the past 20 years. However, the provided evidence (company’s communications and e-mails, the domain name www.kartingalgarve.com and divulgation in press, television and internet) was considered insufficient by the IPC. The Court further stated that the evidence had to show that the sign was recognised by a significant part of the public of the national territory. It would not be enough to demonstrate that the trade mark was recognised as such by the population of Algarve.

Still, the Court decided to the address the relative grounds issue. While doing so, it found that even if it had decided that the applied trade mark had acquired a distinctive character, the registration had to be refused as the opposing signs were graphically and conceptually similar and there was similarity between the covered services, which would result in a likelihood of confusion between the signs.