The EUIPO Boards of Appeal, in decision R 0056/2024-1, overturned the first instance decision, providing crucial insights into the assessment of likelihood of confusion in the pharmaceutical sector.
The Board emphasized that despite some visual and phonetic similarities between “Astoret” and “Restoret,” the specific nature of the goods and the high level of consumer attention in the healthcare domain mitigated the risk of confusion.
Key points from the decision:
- High Consumer Attention: Both medical professionals and patients exercise a high degree of attention due to the gravity of health issues and potential consequences of errors.
- Different Therapeutic Purposes: The goods have distinct primary therapeutic purposes, prescribed by different medical specialists (psychiatrists vs. ophthalmologists).
- Limited Goods Similarity: The goods in Class 5 are at most slightly similar, further reducing the likelihood of confusion.
- Overall Assessment: While the signs share six letters, the Board concluded that the differences in the beginnings of the words, the distinct nature of the goods, and the high consumer attentiveness prevented overall similarity.
Relevant Conclusion: Thus, in sectors where consumer attention is particularly high, such as healthcare—emphasizing medicinal products serves a highly specific purpose—the assessment of the likelihood of confusion must be carried out with particular nuance and precision.
Therefore, similarities in signs may not lead to confusion when consumers exercise a high vigilance and, in this case, goods, even in the same class, have distinct therapeutic purposes.
Link to the decision: Click here
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