ISRAEL Trends and Developments Contributed by: Sanford T. Colb, David Colb, Barak Mashiah and Guy Oved, Sanford T Colb & Co
Sanford T Colb & Co 4 Sha’r Hagai St Rehovot Israel
Tel: +972-89-455122 Fax: +972-89-454556 Email: colbpat@stc.co.il Web: www.stc.co.il
Introduction In April 2025, the Israel Supreme Court issued a prec - edential ruling clarifying whether the Commissioner of Trademarks is required to apply the provisions of a co-existence agreement between the owner of an existing registered trade mark and the proprietor of a pending application, when deciding whether the applied-for mark is eligible for registration. Below is a summary of the case. Judicial Context Case name: Commissioner of Trademarks v Kviscal Services Co Ltd Case number: Application for Leave to Appeal (Civil) 5743/24 Court: Supreme Court of Israel sitting as Court of Appeals Panel: Justices Alex Stein, Khaled Kabub and Noam Solberg Date of decision: 10 April 2025 Nature of proceeding: Petition for leave to appeal a judgment of the Jerusalem District Court (Civil Appeal 24545-09-23), arising from a decision of the Israel Trademark Office regarding registration of Israel Trademark Application No 348173. This case deals with a dispute over trade mark regis - tration in Israel, focusing on whether the Commission - er of Trademarks (the “Commissioner”) was permitted to refuse, or impose conditions on, registration of a
trade mark that was identical or similar to an exist - ing registered mark, notwithstanding a co-existence agreement between the parties. The Supreme Court’s decision clarifies the scope of the Commissioner’s dis - cretion under the Trademarks Ordinance and estab - lishes principles governing the interaction between private co-existence agreements and the statutory duties of the Commissioner. The respondent in the case, Kviscal Services Co Ltd (hereinafter “Kviscal”), is a long-established company that has provided laundry machine rental and indus - trial laundry services in Israel since the late 1960s, with a strong reputation in institutional markets. Kvis - cal applied to register Israel Trademark Application No 348173 for a trade mark that transliterated from Hebrew as “Kviscal” (which can be interpreted as meaning “Easy-Wash”) for three categories (classes) of goods and services, including laundry-related prod - ucts and services (hereinafter the “Applied-for Mark”). A conflicting trade mark was already registered, namely, Israel Trademark Registration No 337688 for a stylised mark that transliterates from Hebrew as “Kvisacol” (which can be interpreted as mean - ing “Omni-Wash”), registered in 2021 in the name of Perfume Clean Ltd (hereinafter “Perfume Clean”) for goods in Class 3, namely, household laundry products such as detergents and soaps. Factual and Procedural Background The parties and trade marks involved The similarity in orthography and phonetics between the two marks raised a concern that consumers might be confused, and believe that products or services
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