The European Court of Justice has upheld a ruling made in the UK courts that the UK registered trade mark INTELMARK does not infringe on Intel's IP rights.

Intel originally asked the UK courts to declare that the INTELMARK registered trade mark, owned by the marketing company CPM, should be declared invalid.

Intel's original claim was that INTELMARK "would take unfair advantage of or be detrimental to the distinctive character or the repute" of its IP rights.

The UK court's judgment stated that: 'The reputation enjoyed by the INTEL mark would be sufficient for the average consumer to focus on INTEL in INTELMARK,' but that: 'The addition of MARK in a single word does create a degree of dissimilarity'.

The European Court of Justice has now agreed with the decision of the UK court that the INTELMARK trademark should stand.

The case will now be referred back to the UK Court of Appeal, but the principles laid out in the ruling by the European Court will now govern decisions made by the UK Intellectual Property Office which decides on whether a UK trademark can be registered.

The main principle laid down by the European Court in this case is that the aggrieved party to a dispute must show some financial loss from the use of the trademark which is being complained about.

As CPM and its INTELMARK trade mark operate in a different sphere of business to Intel, proving financial loss was tricky.

Intel is also involved in the European Courts with a new law suit alleging that the EC's investigation into Intel's alleged anti-competitive trading practices in Europe was improperly conducted.

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