RTPR’s litigation team comprised of Valentin Berea (Partner), Andrada Rusan (Counsel), Ana Popa (Counsel), Narcis Codori (Associate), Miruna Tocileanu (Associate) and Gabriel Malus (Junior Associate) succeeded, after more than three years and two procedural stages, to secure a favourable enforceable ruling for the Regina Maria Private Healthcare Network in a significant dispute in the field of unfair competition and intellectual property, which brought the concept of ‘trade dress’ into the spotlight in an unprecedented legal context in Romania.
Valentin Berea, head of the disputes and investigations practice at RTPR, said: “This is a very interesting case for a practitioner, as it raises legal issues at the intersection of unfair competition and intellectual property. Essentially, our assignment was to defend our client’s visual identity (also known as ‘trade dress’ in common law) against subtle forms of appropriation and copying by a direct competitor, which first manifested online and subsequently offline, including through programmatic advertising and social media communications. In the digital economy, the ‘shop window’ of a business has largely moved online, and technology enables ways of associating and engaging with a brand that are far more sophisticated than the traditional copying of a trademark. One of the central arguments put forward by our team was that the protection of the visual identity must be analysed in terms of its overall impression, rather than by dissecting the individual elements that compose it. Our challenge and satisfaction were all the greater given that we faced a formidable defence.”
The legal dispute between the Regina Maria Private Healthcare Network and its competitor is being fought on several fronts, before national and European courts and authorities. Recently, RTPR secured another favourable ruling for Regina Maria, the Bucharest Tribunal dismissing in its entirety the action in which the same competitor had sought the annulment of the ‘Regina Maria’ trademark portfolio, on five distinct grounds for nullity. The Royal House of Romania also intervened in that dispute, defending its legitimate institutional connection with the medical network to which it had granted the right to bear the name of Queen Maria, a historical figure and member of the Royal Family of Romania.
RTPR’s litigation practice has extensive experience in various fields such as competition and unfair competition law, intellectual property, information technology, disputes arising from mergers and acquisitions, corporate investigations and reorganisations, tax litigation and international arbitration.
RTPR’s litigation team also benefits from collaborating with Professor Lucian Mihai, one of Romania’s prominent figures in intellectual property law, under whose mentorship several generations of practitioners have been trained, including lawyers from the team that worked on this case.
In another landmark intellectual property case, RTPR was the first law firm in the CEE region to secure a final ‘site blocking’ ruling, representing some of the largest US film studios, whereby the main internet service providers were ordered to block a number of pirate film websites that were very popular in Romania.
RTPR is one of the most experienced and highly regarded law firms in Romania, recognised as such by the Legal 500, Chambers and IFLR 1000 – the most reputable international legal directories – which consistently include RTPR at the top of the rankings for various practice areas, including Banking and Finance, Corporate/M&A, Capital Markets, Dispute Resolution, Competition/Antitrust, Energy and Natural Resources, Real Estate and Construction, Employment, Intellectual Property and TMT (Technology, Media & Telecom).