After winning the initial judgement in a trademark suit, the
German software firm MobiliX may have to give up its name after all
to the publishers of a similarly-named comic book character.
The trademark suit was appealed by the Les Edition Albert
René, owners of the character Obelix soon after MobiliX won
the initial judgement from the German courts last year.
Now, though, a court of appeals has reversed the findings of the
initial judgement this week.
“Contrary to the decision of the first court, it states that
Obelix and MobiliX are ‘very similar,'” said MobiliX owner Werner
Hauser of the appealate court findings, “Therefore it will be
likely that people take one for the other. It doesn’t matter that
the suffix ‘ix’ is used very often to name computer related
products, because the names have to be sufficient[ly] apart…”
The court has ordered Hauser to withdraw the MobiliX trademark
and the domain name as well. He has also been ordered to pay a
compensation fee. Heuser’s lawyers, Jaschinski, Biere and Brexl,
are currently exploring if an appeal to highest German court,
Bundesgerichtshof, is possible. Until this decision is made, the
new verdict will not be enforced.
An on-going documentation of the case, containing a information
about other projects under siege and the written statements of the
lawyers JBB, is available online at the link below.