OmniChannel has been granted the exclusive right by CapBrands to import and distribute baby food blenders in the Netherlands under the names NutriBullet Baby and Baby Bullet and to promote them through television and the Internet, using the infomercials produced by Capital Brands. These blenders feature a happy face. Those blenders are also offered by OmniChannel with an EAN code on Bol.com.
OmniChannel notices that a seller – who is unknown to them – is also offering a Baby Bullet blender with the same EAN code on Bol.com with pictures of the Baby Bullet. OmniChannel makes a test purchase but then receives a completely different product, with the trademark Happy Baby, which also features a happy face. This seller is summoned in summary proceedings.
The preliminary relief judge of the District Court of The Hague put a stop to this: the sale of the competing product Happy Baby infringes the IP rights of CapBrands and is also an unfair trade practice because the EAN code, belonging to CapBrands voor the Baby Bullet blender, is used to mislead the public. The injunction is granted for the entire EU.
Trademark owners: Regularly check on Internet platforms whether the EAN code associated with your product is not erroneously used by third party sellers for completely different products with other trademarks.
