ITALY: Lemoncello row referred back to junior ECJ court

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has referred a long-running case over the European Union (EU)-wide registration of a 'lemoncello' lemon peel liquor trademark back to its junior ECJ Court of First Instance.

Judges said the junior court had failed to sufficiently consider whether the Italian company Shaker di L. Laudato & Cs' visual lemoncello trademark, based on the names 'Limoncello della Costiera Amalfitana' and 'Shaker', could be confused with Spain's Limiñana y Botella 'limonchelo' drink, because of the similarity of the drinks' names in the marks.

The Italians say this does not matter because the trademark logos differ visually in pictorial terms.

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