Schoenherr has successfully protected the trademark rights of Jaegermeister in a dispute regarding their imitation by a discount private label by obtaining an EU-wide preliminary injunction before Austria's Supreme Court of Justice.
According to Schoenherr, the courts, up to the Supreme Court, "considered the design elements of the product used by a discount private label – i.e., the color combination and Fraktur lettering on an orange banderole as well as the depiction of a deer's head – to be inadmissible product imitation. The main reason given was that the imitation product is conspicuously based on Jaegermeister's well-known brand and design elements, and this leads to a mental association and exploitation of reputation."
"This decision of the Supreme Court once again confirms that well-known trademarks and well-known product get-ups are protected against imitation," Schoenherr Intellectual Property Partner Christian Schumacher commented. "It can often be observed that an association with a well-known product is aroused via important product design elements. The Supreme Court has made it clear here in its reasoning that this is difficult to justify even if the imitator applies its own brand, which can also be well-known."
Schoenherr's team included Schumacher and Attorney at Law Birgit Kapeller-Hirsch.