Rosalía loses legal battle against jewelry brand Rosaliya

BrusselsJudicial defeat of the singer Rosalia against the Rosaliya brand. The General Court of the European Union (GCEU) has rejected this Wednesday the appeal of the Catalan artist to annul the registration of the name of this brand that exploits the Bulgarian company Raphael Europe Ltd.. In theory, this company sells leather goods and, among others, costume jewellery throughout the European Union.

In October 2021, the singer filed an application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to annul the registration of the trademark, which the Bulgarian company had registered in May 2016. Rosalía argued that she was right. "It declared the partial expiry of the trademark for all products, except for personal jewellery and decorative items," states the CJEU ruling.

Now, the Catalan artist appealed the decision of the EU body for not having declared the annulment of the trademark for all types of products, including jewellery. However, the EUIPO denied the appeal on December 15, 2023. "It considered that the evidence provided by the company that owns the trademark demonstrated the effective use in respect of the aforementioned products," adds the opinion of the Luxembourg court. Rosalía then referred the case to the CJEU, which is the court of first instance of European justice.

Thus, the CJEU has ruled in the same way as the EUIPO and has ruled that its decision was correct. In this sense, Luxembourg "discards" that "errors were made when considering the evidence provided" by the Bulgarian company Raphael Europe Ltd, as alleged by the singer. In addition, although the European court admits that the EUIPO "did not examine" whether the name of the trademark "was placed on the products or on the packaging", it counters that "this error cannot lead to the nullity of the contested decision."