7 Dec 2011
MARS NEW ZEALAND LIMITED V ROBY TRUSTEES LIMITED HC AK CIV-2011-404-004613
- Citation
- openlaw-2ac572eb_6765_4355_8ea1_f9b204dcf63c.pdf
- Court
- High Court
The Court held that, given Mars established reputation in pet food and the aural and conceptual consonance between "Optimize Pro" (commonly reduced to "Optimize") and Mars dominant mark "Optimum", a substantial number of purchasers in the New Zealand market for chilled dog rolls and dog food would be deceived or confused; accordingly Robys proposed mark infringed s 17(1)(a), amounted to passing off/breached the Fair Trading Act (s 17(1)(b)), and was similar to registered marks for the purposes of ss 25(1)(b) and 25(1)(c), so Mars opposition was upheld.