The sign PME LEGEND-AMERICAN CLASSIC was filed in class 18 by a British applicant, later assigned to a firm in Cyprus. The Hungarian Patent Office rejected the application with the consideration that the rule according to which a sign suitable to mislead directly or indirectly in respect of geographic origin is applicable in this case.

The request for review was dismissed by the Metropolitan Court. The latter held that clothes, including fancy-articles from leather made in the USA are appreciated by the average costumer, who can be misled as he believes to buy an original American product.

The Metropolitan Court of Appeal rejected the appeal adding that the term "American" in the mark does not refer to the USA, but to the American continent. Though the applicant, initially British, later from Cyprus cannot  be connected to the American continent, as a result the term "American" in the mark is misleading. His reference to the term "American classic" excludes registration.

(Vv. 2011 p.64)

Comments

The contested geographical reference is included in a word combination, as a result the three instances believed necessary to explain why the complete word combination cannot be protected.

The decisions are in conformity with the traditional jurisprudence.

Registration of geographical names was excluded already since the amendment in 1985 of the first Trademark Act. This amendment was the result of the harmonisation with the Paris Convention. This jurisprudence is more than hundred years old.

A. Vida