Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A representative of the Italian company FERRERO S.p.A., a manufacturer of chocolate paste under the Nutella trademark, contacted the Antimonopoly Committee of Uzbekistan. This was reported by the press service of the committee. 

In his appeal, the applicant indicated that the local manufacturer POLAT A.S. in the production of Ramella chocolate paste, similar pictorial elements are used in the design and packaging of the paste, which misleads consumers about the manufacturer.

It is important to note that the Nutella trademark was registered internationally by the company back in 1987. And the Ramella company was registered in accordance with the established procedure in 2000. Today, two manufacturers are a competitor in the commodity market of Uzbekistan.

Is the design of Ramella pasta really similar to the Nutella trademark, is POLAT A.S. is an unfair competitor?

This issue was studied by the relevant committee and a decision was made, according to which POLAT A.S. violated the requirement of the third paragraph of the first part of Article 13 of the Law "On Competition", according to which misleading consumers about the nature, method and place of production, consumer properties of goods, price, quality of goods, manufacturer’s (executor’s) warranty obligations, imitation of goods introduced into civil circulation by an economic entity (competitor), by reproducing the external design of the product and its shape, name, marking, label, packaging, color scheme, trademark, copying advertising materials or other elements that individualize the product of an economic entity (competitor) is considered unfair competition.

Also, the society was charged with the obligation to eliminate the violation of the law, and in the future to prevent such violations.