The case involved telcos Eiretel, Airtel Movil and Alianza
Internacional De Redes Telefonicas. Eiretel applied two years ago
to register its name as a trade mark in respect of
telecommunications services. Airtel and Alianza, owners of the
trade mark “Airtel”, jointly opposed the application.
The two companies claimed that the “Eiretel” and “Airtel” marks
were phonetically almost identical, and that they covered similar
products.
They argued that, although the correct pronunciation of the
geographical name Eire is with two syllables, most people in
Britain are not familiar with Irish pronunciation. Therefore there
would be a risk that both Eiretel and Airtel would be pronounced in
an almost identical way.
The opponents also claimed that the word Eiretel is devoid of
distinctive character (Eire means Ireland and “tel” is a common
abbreviation for telecoms), and should not be registered under the
Trade Marks Act 1994.
However M. Reynolds rejected the opponents’ claims, reasoning
that there “would be fairly wide understanding of the meaning of
‘Eire’ within the UK”, and that the phonetic similarity was
unlikely to create consumer confusion.
This is because “the average consumer [in the telecoms market]
will not come to a decision without due consideration and careful
assessment of the available options.”
Reynolds also noted in his decision that there were “strong
visual dissimilarities” between the marks.
