Casadobe owns a boutique wine estate called CANTO in
Durbanvillle wine valley, Western Cape. Fratelli (an Italian
company) is the registered proprietor of the South African
trademark CANTI for wines and sparkling wines (Class 33).
Casdobe applied for the registration of its CANTO trademark in
2015 in various classes, including class 33.
Arguments
Fratelli contended that CANTO is visually, phonetically and
conceptually confusingly similar to CANTI.
Casadobe argued that even though the first four letters of CANTO
and CANTI are the same, a single letter can make an “enormous
difference in relation to trade marks”. According to
Casadobe, the ‘I' and the ‘O' at the end of
the respective trade marks are of fundamental importance for the
purpose of distinction.
