PROTECTION OF WINE NAMES BY TRADEMARK LAW 119 Wines (class 33) are similar to beers at a low degree (class 32)41, even though they are two different products with different production processes. Indeed, they are of the same nature since they all belong to the same category of alcoholic drinks, being served in restaurants and bars and displayed in the same area of supermarkets and grocery stores. Furthermore, some alcoholic beverages may originate from the same source; Wines and wine glasses (class 21) are dissimilar, even if there is a degree of complementarity between them in so far as wine glasses are intended to be used for drinking wine42; Wines are different from mineral and aerated waters and other nonalcoholic drinks, syrups and other preparations for making beverages and mixed lemonade-based drinks (class 32)43; and Alcoholic beverages and energy drinks are not considered similar44 merely because they can be mixed, consumed or marketed together, given that the nature, intended purpose and use of those goods differ, based on the presence or absence of alcohol in their composition. As regards the assessment of the similarity of signs, it is made in consideration of the coinciding and differing visual, phonetic or conceptual elements of the signs at issue, the overall impression given by them, account being taken, in particular, of their distinctive and dominant components. It is a settled case that consumers typically attach more importance to verbal elements, especially the beginning of words. However, for alcoholic beverages, namely wine, a particular importance must be attached to the phonetic aspect45, since consumers choose their wine from a menu before placing their order verbally and since they are most often ordered in noisy locations, such as bars and restaurants. Furthermore, they are normally sold in self-service shops, where the consumers choose the goods themselves and must therefore rely primarily on the image of the mark placed on that product46. Therefore, no risk of confusion has been found between “Litu” for Chilean wines and “Pitu” for alcoholic beverages (except beers), given that they 41 GCEU of 18 June 2006, Coca Cola Company T-175/06. 42 ECJ of 7 May 2009, Waterford Stellenbosch C-398/07. 43 See fn. 3 44 GCEU of 4 October 2018, Flugel, T-150/17, §§ 77-84. 45 GCEU of 2 February 2016, Antica Azienda Agricola Vitivinicola del Conti Leone de castris Srl “ILIIRIA”, T-541/14, § 48 46 GCEU of 25 January 2017, Anton Riemerschmind Weinbrunnerei, “Litu” T-187/16.
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