Liability for Unlawful Use of a Trademark

Abstract

The aim of this report is to provide a brief overview of litigation over trademark violations from 2014 until 2019. This period is significant for at least two reasons: first, the beginning of this period coincides with a decade since the accession of several East European countries, including Latvia, to the European Union; second, the end of this period coincides with the end of application of the Law On Trademarks and Indications of Geographical Origin of 1999, which was replaced by a new law enacted on 6 March 2020. The procedure for the opposition process as part of trademark registration was reformed as the Law on Industrial Property Institutions and Procedures came into force on 1 January 2016. Although reform of trademark registration and the opposition procedure did not have a direct impact on trademark rights already in place, it could be anticipated that protection of trademark rights as established since 2016 would be more robust and the peculiarities of the previous period would be extinguished. As litigation over the registration and opposition procedure lags behind the filing of applications for registration of trademarks, no cases have been heard over applications filed under the new system, i.e., after 1 January 2016.