When judokas fight for a title

The Czech Association did not appreciate this and tried negotiating with their competing organisation. Their argument was that there could not be a Czech-Moravian Association alongside the Czech Association, because the two are interchangeable and confusing to the public and judokas alike. The negotiations, however, fizzled out and so the dispute lead to a suit for infringement of the legal name of the entity and unfair competition.

The main argument was the interchangeability of the two names. But the Czech-Moravian Association also offers various courses for a fee and is therefore in direct competition with the Czech Association, because both organisations compete economically. And a consumer looking to start taking judo courses or perhaps taking exams might be confused as to which association is official.

The court was convinced by this argument, acknowledging that the two names are interchangeable and inviting both parties to agree to change them. After the court hearing, the associations were given time to deliberate, exchanging a large number of emails, but were finally unable to come to any agreement. As the plaintiffs, we asked the court to decide and are currently awaiting its verdict, which should be favourable for the Czech Judo Association.

This is the name entered into the Register of Associations, which is similar to the Commercial Registry, and therefore subject to the provisions of the Civil Code concerning the uniqueness of designations, including provisions on unfair competition. These can be relied on in almost every case where intellectual property rights have been infringed.