Reiffeisen loses R-Profit trademark case to Bank Pekao

Reiffeisen Bank Polska had been trying to register its brand R-Profit as a word and logo trademark for five years. The brand was supposed to be directed at small and medium sized enterprises. At the beginning of the year, the Patent Office ruled that the brand is a bit too similar to the Profit brand of Bank Pekao, which has been protected for over 10 years now. The Patent Office was not concerned that Profit is only a word and is intended only for private bank accounts. "A customer could think that R-Profit is a variation on Profit Pekao," says Kazimierz Piaseczny, a Patent Office expert. Reiffeisen, meanwhile, believes that its brand would not be mistaken with Pekao because of the letter "R". Besides this, the bank believes that decisions about choosing a bank are made very carefully by customers and the customer generally knows in what bank they are opening an account. (Puls Biznesu, p. 11) S.D.