Commercial Court of Brussels orders JUPILER BLUE beer to be withdrawn from the Belgian Market
In a judgment issued last Friday, the Commercial Court of Brussels upheld a complaint by the Belgian brewer Alken-Maes against the packaging chosen by rival brewer AB AB INBEV for its "Jupiler Blue" beer.
For many years, Alken-Maes has made huge investments in its "Maes" brand of beer, sold in its famous blue cans and bottles, to such an extent that recent market research shows that 60% of Belgian consumers automatically link the colour blue to Maes beer, thus proving that the colour trademark has "repute" in the Benelux countries. In its judgment, the Court held that most consumers chose Maes beer by the colour of the packaging from the various beers available on the shelves of a supermarket or other shop, and that, by choosing an identical blue packaging for "Jupiler Blue", AB INBEV had infringed Alken-Maes's abstract blue Benelux colour trademark.
The Court also held that the similar positioning and font of the word "BLUE" and the use of a highly similar blue and white colour scheme by AB INBEV , while making the name "Jupiler" almost disappear into the background, contributed to the likelihood to confuse the public.
AB INBEV , the biggest brewer in Belgium, now has just a month to recall every can and bottle of "Jupiler Blue" from the Belgian market.
Alken-Maes was represented by Paul Maeyaert and Jeroen Muyldermans from the Intellectual Property team at the ALTIUS law firm
