The Appeals Division of the State Patent Bureau (hereinafter - SPB) has rejected the previous claims of the companies - JSC „General Financing" (trademark Kreditas 123") ir JSC „MCB Finance" (trademark Credit24) - regarding the registration of the trademark "BIGBANK Fastest Way to Money". The BIGBANK AS trademark registration is left valid.
SPB was asked to acknowledge the registration of the trademark "BIGBANK Fastest Way to Money" as invalid. The claims were grounded on the assumption that BIGBANK trademark is misleading: i.e., the word "fastest" makes an impression that the service is the fastest, while the service provided by other market participants is not that fast. The SPB has decided that the trademark "BIGBANK Fastest Way to Money" can't mislead the society.
SPB indicated that the purpose of the trademark "BIGBANK Fastest Way to Money" is to describe the services; however it does not mention any specific loans, conditions for their granting, maturity, amount or other qualities. SPB also confirmed that the trademark "BIGBANK Fastest Way to Money" is a metaphor and is to be understood figuratively. Actually, along with SPB this fact had also been confirmed by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and the surveys conducted by TNS Gallup and the bank itself.
"We think that Lithuanian consumers are thinking and clever people and they therefore understand indirectly the figuratively presented information. We have been using this trademark in other countries for a long time and have never had any dispute over it. I would like to note that quite many well-known international and Lithuanian companies use metaphors in their trademarks and advertising slogans. For example, we are all familiar with the popular slogan of one international beverage company, inviting to always enjoy their product. SPB has confirmed once again the use of such trademarks and slogans", - stated Rolandas Norvilas, the Head of the BIGBANK AS Lithuanian branch.
Slogan "BIGBANK Fastest Way to Money" is a part of the BIGBANK trademark, registered in the EU.
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BIGBANK AS is one of the biggest banks in the Baltic States specializing in consumer loans and fixed-term deposits for private persons. Total assets in the end of Q3 2009 amounted to 2.9 billion EEK (~0.64 billion LTL) and the BIGBANK group net profit in the end of Q3 totalled to 37.8 million EEK (~8.3 million LTL). At the end of 2009, BIGBANK had 28 customer service offices in the Baltic States and Finland: 10 offices in Estonia, 10 in Lithuania, 7 in Latvia, and 1 in Finland. Altogether, there were 392 employees working in the Group: 167 in Estonia, 154 in Latvia, 69 in Lithuania, and 2 in Finland. In Germany BIGBANK offers term deposits as a cross-boarder service.
The BIGBANK AS Lithuanian branch started to operate in Lithuania in September, 2007. Currently, BIGBANK has 10 customer service offices in Lithuania: in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys, Šiauliai, Marijampolė, and Mažeikiai.
