Chiesi blocks Japanese drugmaker’s new brand at EU General Court
Japan-based Nitto Pharmaceutical Industries has been blocked from using its ‘Noster’ brand in the EU, in a win for Italian drugmaker Chiesi Farmaceutici.
According to Nitto Pharma’s website, Noster is a new company established in Japan last month, and specialises in gut microbiome drug discovery.
Nitto Pharma filed a trademark application for the brand name at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) as far back as 2016, but was opposed by Chiesi.
Chiesi argued that the name was likely to cause confusion with ‘Foster’, the brand name for Chiesi’s inhaler for treating asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
In May 2019, an EUIPO appeals board sided with Chiesi and blocked Nitto from registering the ‘Noster’ trademark, on the basis that it was possible the public could confuse the two brands.
The Japanese firm appealed to the EU General Court, which has now affirmed the EUIPO’s previous decision and ordered Nitto to pay Chiesi’s legal costs.
Nitto had argued that there was a sufficient difference between the letters ‘n’ and ‘f’ to ward off any likelihood of the public confusing the two brands.
It also claimed that the EUIPO had set the bar for a likelihood of confusion too low.
But the General Court rejected those arguments, finding that the EUIPO didn’t have to “prove that there was an absolute certainty” of confusion, but rather only “show that there was a ‘risk’ that consumers may believe that the goods or services in question come from the same undertaking”.
Chiesi is also involved in a separate patent dispute with Israeli generics maker Teva, over the Foster inhaler, or Fostair as it is known in the UK.
Justice Colin Birss of the English High Court last month ruled that Teva had to face infringement claims brought by Chiesi, after the generics manufacturer unsuccessfully tried to have them thrown out.
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