A trademark is also protected by its fame

Can two identical brands exist side by side? The answer is yes, if each is used by a different subject for different products or services. At the same time, neither of them can be famous enough that its use by the other party would mislead the consumer. In other words, if a local vineyard in Moravia registers the trademark Vínohrad for its wine, it is not out of the question for a company in Cheb to register the same trademark for its amusement park.

However, if you tried to register the Coca-Cola trademark for your shoes, you’d have a problem. The Coca-Cola Company may only produce beverages, but it is so well known around the world that consumers would associate it with any other product, including shoes, making this an infringement of their rights.

Of course you can register a trademark for all 45 internationally recognised classes of products and services, but each further class means additional costs in the form of extra fees. For example, in the Czech Republic the first application is five thousand CZK for three classes and five hundred for each subsequent one. Every ten years the trademark has to be renewed, meaning additional fees.

The main problem, however, is that if you don’t use your trademark for the registered products and services, because you don’t produce or sell them, anyone who actually wants to use it for that purpose can have it revoked for disuse. The only defence in that case is to achieve the same notoriety as Coca-Cola and bring to your defence the good reputation of your trademark and the possible parasitizing on its reputation.