20-year case finally coming to a successful conclusion

A case for invalidation of a trademark that has begun a full 20 years ago has finally come to it conclusion this year, following a final decision of the Supreme Administrative Court that finally ruled in favor of the Pavlov & Co. client and has declared the decision of the BPO to cancel its trademark registration for the trademark “IDEALEN DOM” (“Ideal Home”) invalid. After a lengthy court case that has been suspended several times and went up and down through the instances, a final, definitive ruling has finally been rendered in late summer in 2018.

The matter started way back in 1997, when an opponent filed a request for invalidation of a trademark (long before the creation of Pavlov & Co), based on prior use of the same trademark, which option did exist under the Trademark law in force at the time. The BPO, however, failed to follow procedure and inform the holder of the trademark accordingly, sending a notification letter that was never received, but failing to do any attempt to further notify the holder, as the law dictated. Instead, a direct decision for invalidation the sign was issued.

This decision was duly appealed by the holder, based on breach of procedural rules. Meanwhile, the invalidity applicant had also filed a claim in court for establishing the fact of prior use of the trademark (as was required within the invalidation procedure). Thus, the matter was suspended until this claim was resolved. After several years of legal battles, a final decision, ruling that the invalidity applicant has not proven prior use of the trademark was rendered, and the first case was reopened.

The Sofia City Court (which was reviewing the case as a first instance court), ruled that the contested decision for invalidity was taken by an illegal panel of the BPO, which did not comply with the legislation in force at the time of rendering of the decision, and ruled to annul it. This was appealed by the invalidity applicant before the Supreme Administrative Court, which overturned that decision and sent it back to the Sofia City Court for ruling on the merits of the decision.

The SCC reviewed the matter again, and this time ruled on the merits, overturning the decision as incorrect, due to the non-compliance with the necessary procedure under the legislation, current at that time. In its reasons, the Court also pointed out that the fact of prior use was not proven by the invalidation applicant, quoting the SCC decision on their claim. The decision was again appealed before the Supreme Administrative Court. The SAC reviewed the case for the final time and finally issued a decision, confirming the ruling of the SCC – there have been severe procedural infractions on behalf of the BPO, and thus the decision was overturned.

This put an end to a lengthy and exhausting legal battle over the validity of the contested trademark, which Managing Partner Vasil Pavlov handled pretty much from the beginning, and brought with him through the years.