Xiaomi has lost one of its trademarks in Russia. This was reported by the Russian Agency for Legal and Judicial Information. Back in July 2020, Apple filed an objection to Rospatent against “granting legal protection” to the Mi Pad trademark.
Now the objection was considered at a meeting of the Chamber of Patent Disputes Board. As a result, a decision was made in favor of Apple – the Mi Pad trademark will no longer be protected by Russian law.
Apple said in a statement that the disputed trademark is “confusingly similar” to Apple brands such as iPad, iPad SMART CASE, iPad, iPad, iPad PRO, iPad mini, and IPAD AIR. In addition, the Xiaomi trademark can mislead the consumer regarding the manufacturer. It is also noted that Apple sees signs of unfair competition in the situation.
Rospatent specialists agreed that the Apple and Xiaomi trademarks are “associated with each other”, both phonetically similar elements, and simply through the use of similar letters of the Latin alphabet. At the same time, the existing differences “play only a minor role” in the perception of these signs as a whole.
Note that in Europe, Apple achieved a ban on the registration of the Mi Pad trademark by Xiaomi back in December 2017. At the moment, Xiaomi does not officially sell Mi Pad tablets in Russia.
