Successfully appealed, “FREY WILLE” is accpeted for registration

As representative of the owner of the Intl’ Registration No.824396 “FREY WILLE” designating Vietnam  for Classes 03, 14, 16, 18 and 25, Pham and Associates has petitioned with the IP Vietnam to appeal against the provisional refusal of mark registration on the grounds that this applied-for mark is confusingly similar to the prior  mark “FREYA” under National Application No.4-2003-06140 and “FREYA” under the Intl’ Registration No.804693.

The complainant's argument is:

(i) with regard to the cited mark "FREYA": the applied-for mark differs on that it has 02  word elements, namely "FREY" and "MILLE", the pronouncing is different and the meaning is also different; while "FREYA" is the goddess of love and fertility in Norse mythology, "FREY" and "MILLE" are two common family names in Austria, specifically in this case are the last names of the two founders of the company;

(ii) with regard to the cited application No.4-2003-06140: this application was rejected by the IP Vietnam in  2014 and the applicant has issued a Consent Letter  to give up the application and not object to the mark “FREY WILLE” registered in Vietnam, and

(iii) Nhãn hiệu xin đăng ký đã được bảo hộ ở nhiều nước trên thế giới và EU, đặc biệt tại Luxembourg là nước xuất xứ của nhãn hiệu đối chứng “FREYA”.

(iii) “FREY WILLE”  is protected in many countries around the world and the EU, especially in Luxembourg which is the country of origin of the cited mark “FREYA”.

Having reviewed the case, the IP Vietnam held  that the complainant's argument well-founded, so it canceled the previous decision of refusal and accepted to protect the mark./.