The “ugly” dispute between PUMA and RUMA

As reported by Lexology, the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court has held that a likelihood of confusion exists between PUMA and RUMA. The dispute arose between the PUMA figurative marks, and the Finnish word mark, RUMA, which means “ugly” in Finnish.

The Supreme Administration Court held that the marks were visually similar, and, in particular, that the letters P and R were similar in appearance. The owner of the PUMA trademarks claimed that PUMA was a highly reputable global trademark, but provided no evidence in support of the trademarks’ reputation, including in Finland.

In any event, the PUMA marks were considered to have a strong scope of protection, despite the lack of evidence of their reputation in Finland. The Supreme Administrative Court placed an emphasis on the similarity of the visual appearance of the marks and the similarity of the goods, in finding that the marks were confusingly similar.

Author: Jaclyn Tilak