On February 19, 2009, the Section of Appeals of the State Patent Bureau has dismissed the opposition No. 2203 of the interested person SOCIETE DES PRODUITS NESTLE S.A. against the validation of trademark “FAN” (Reg. No. 950725) owned by Managing Company “Sibirsky Bereg” Closed Joint Stock Company.
The Section of Appeals stated that comparable marks “NAN” and “FAN” are very short and the difference of the first letters is quite significant and that is the main reason of visually difference of the comparable trademarks. Phonetically compared marks “NAN” and “FAN” are not similar as well, because of the different pronunciation due to first letters “N” and “F”. Also it is important to mention that both words are compounded of notional words and the meanings of them are different. Accordingly the opposed trademark have been stated being not similar to the trademark of the interested person.