MOSCOW, March 27 (RAPSI) – The Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent) has granted the request of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to invalidate the registration of the BBC trademark of Britain BBC International Cosmetics, Ltd., the patent service said in a statement.

Britain BBC International Cosmetics, Ltd. was incorporated in Hong Kong in October 2008. Its trademark, BBC, was registered under the third class (perfumery, essential oils, cosmetics, hair lotions) of the Nice Classification of goods and services.

The main visual identification of the British Broadcasting Corporation is its logo known as “the BBC blocks,” which is represented by letters BBC in three tetragons, mostly in black and white. BBC argues that the existence of two similar logos used by two different companies is confusing and can form erroneous ideas about the manufacturer of the cosmetics goods, the statement reads.

According to the plaintiff, Britain BBC International Cosmetics, Ltd. is deliberately trying to mislead consumers because it says that its products are made by ВВС (Britain). BBC also said that its logo is extremely similar to the trademark the registration of which it is contesting.

According to a poll conducted by Russia's VTsIOM public opinion research center, respondents associate the ВВС acronym with a TV channel (46.7%), while 56% of respondents believe that BBC cosmetics are made by the British Broadcasting Corporation, and 60.5% think these products are made with the permission of the plaintiff.