Patricia Dianda meets SVT outside the street food carts in Borlöv. These are busy days, both privately and professionally. Just over two months ago, she gave birth to her baby, at the same time as events and food festivals are replacing each other. But like a letter in the mail, something else has come to grab her attention.
– Hugo Boss wants us to remove our company name, otherwise we will be threatened with legal action. “They think they own the Boss name and that our name is too similar,” says Patricia Dianda.
Flavor Boss applied to register the trademark “Flavor Boss” earlier this year with the Patent and Registration Office, and it was approved. The registration covers, among other things, the provision of food and drink, as well as clothing. After approval, anyone who wishes can file objections for a period of time. The objection came from fashion house Hugo Boss.
“attempt to gain an undue advantage”
Hugo Boss believes, among other things, that the phonetic similarity of the word “Boss” is identical, that “Flavor” is not the distinctive part of the brand and that the street food company is trying to take unjustified advantage of the famous Boss brand. The company also believes that there is a risk that potential customers will get the idea of a commercial connection, something that the legal representative of Flavor Boss disagrees with.
“Hugo Boss believes there is a risk of confusion for the average consumer. We acknowledge the phonetic similarity between the words, but what is important is to look at the risk of association. Then you have a luxury fashion house and a street food outlet with a logo around an Afro-Caribbean experience. We believe there is no risk of association between these companies,” says Sarah Awez of Wyz Law Group AB.
High financial risk
Patricia Dianda thinks it's ridiculous that Hugo Boss has exclusive rights to “Boss,” which she believes is generally accepted. At the same time, she admits that the financial risks would be high if it turned into a long-running legal dispute.
“It's a big risk, and I don't even know how far this will go and what it will cost us,” Patricia says and continues:
– But removing the brand is out of the question, after all the work we've done since I started in my own kitchen.
SVT Nyheter Skåne sought a legal representative for Hugo Boss, who replied that they did not want to comment on the case at the moment.
“Entrepreneur. Freelance introvert. Creator. Passionate reader. Certified beer ninja. Food nerd.”
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