COLOMBIA
PRODUCTS THAT ADDRESS THE NEED TO EAT ARE NOT RELATED TO THOSE PRODUCTS THAT ADDRESS THE NEED TO DRINK.
On January 28, 2016 the Colombian Council of State issued decision regarding the possibility of coexistence between PAZI ZARA y PASTA ZARA in Class 30, and found that coffee and pasta, despite being in the same class, serve different purposes, insofar as the first addresses the need to quench the thirst while the second addresses the need to eat. Therefore it concluded there is no relationship between the products.
The criteria applied by the trademark authorities regarding the competitive connection between products are becoming stricter.
In the mentioned case, the Colombian State Council considered that pasta and coffee are not interchangeable, thus it is not possible to conclude that they are linked.
This approach, in our opinion, must be graduated considering criteria such as marketing channels, advertising media and complementarity. Moreover, it is important to remember that both solid foods and drinks have the same purpose of supplying biological human needs.
On the other hand, in order to establish the risk of indirect confusion, it is of great importance to consider the phenomenon of diversification of different lines of products. Indeed, it is increasingly common for companies to have different product lines and the consumer public is undoubtedly aware of this fact.
