Turkish Average Consumers: Healthcare Professionals Or End Users?

In December 2019, the Court of Appeal issued two decisions in which the nature of consumers has been scrutinized while assessing likelihood of confusion between pharmaceutical trade marks.

Infantum v Infanta

A trade mark application INFANTUM was filed before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (the Office) covering goods in classes 3 and 5, against which an opposition was filed based on the prior registered trade mark INFANTA covering the same classes.The opposition was accepted in its entirety by the Office based on the likelihood of confusion.

The applicant filed an action for the cancellation of the Office's final decision by arguing that there is no likelihood of confusion between the trade marks since the target consumers of the medical goods should be considered as well- informed and highly educated.