ELZABURU

Support for the exclusive use of red crosses by the Red Cross

El
Supreme Court has issued a sentences which revokes the criterion set forth by
the Department of Distinctive Signs of the Spanish Office of
Patents and Trademarks, its Resources Unit and the Superior Court of Justice of
Madrid, proceeding to deny a trademark registration application that included the
name MODEL HOSPITAL GROUP next to a graph of two curved lines
red that together formed a structure similar to a cross. Seems
This makes clear the interpretation that the red cross is reserved
for the Red Cross and that hospitals and clinics cannot use that
graphic element or others that could be confused with it.

Miguel Angel Medina, associate partner of ELZABURU who has represented the Red Cross in
This case highlights some of the important conclusions that can be drawn
from this sentence:

The Red Cross emblem is a sign protected by an International Convention and,
If Spain has undertaken to protect it, ratifying it, it must comply and not
The argument is valid that the red cross is a generic element or
similar. (“And even more so if its origin is an International Agreement”).

Y
as a culmination of the above «lnotoriety of the work and activities of the
Red Cross (…) cannot be used in a way contrary to its interests,
as an element to mitigate the intensity of its protection, but, at the same time,
Otherwise, it must always be interpreted and in all cases as data that leads
to a more restrictive consideration of any sign that could give rise to error,
confusion or association with it.

Does not matter
the graph is not exactly identical to a cross y
described as "symmetrical angular sections faced by their
vertices that are rounded.

It is no use
put a label next to it with the name of the hospital
to say that the name of the hospital or clinic undoes the association with
Red Cross, since the public "may be led to think that it is a
hospital group (or building) related to the Red Cross in terms of
organization".