Invalidation Request against Trademark Registration “MARTRIL” denied

ROTTPHARM LTD. headquartered at Damastown Industrial Park, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 (Ireland.), owner of Trademark Registration No. 49371 – VIARTRIL for pharmaceutical products in Class 05, granted on June 20, 2003 (cited prior trademark) has filed an Invalidation request with the IP Vietnam to invalidate Trademark Registration No. 83654 – MARTRIL for pharmaceutical products in Class 05, granted on July 21, 2006 on the grounds that the opposed trademark is confusingly similar to the cited prior trademark in terms of structure and pronunciation and the products bearing these marks are the same,  specifically:

(i) VIARTRIL consists of 8 letters and MARTRIL consists of 7 letters but both have 5 consecutive letters that are the same, which is ARTRIL; the only difference is the initial consonants VI and M. Therefore, the level of confusing similarity of these word marks is high;

(ii) The Vietnamese read VIATRIL as “vi-a-tơ-rin”, with the stress on “a” and read MARTRIL as “ma-tơ-rin” with the stress on “ma”. Thus, the level of similarity in sound is relatively high;

(iii) products bearing these trademarks are the same,  all in Class 05.

Not accepting the above argument, the IP Vietnam holds that:

- Although VIARTRIL and MARTRIL are similar in the last 6 characters (ARTRIL), the difference between these word trademarks lies in their first character, VA and M, which plays a dominant role regarding distinctiveness of the trademarks; for word trademarks used for pharmaceuticals, the suffix factor “TRIL” is commonly used, therefore is considered as not distinctive and not taken into account;

- VIARTRIL is read as “vi-a-trin” which consists of 3 syllables, while MARTRIN is read as “ma-trin” which consists of only 2 syllables. Therefore, there is no confusion in pronunciation.

Based on the above conclusion, on October 31, 2024, the IP Vietnam issued a notice refusing the invalidation request against the MARTRIL trademark.

The applicant has the right to appeal this decision within 90 days./.