[Article / Australian Trademarks] Protection of well-known trademarks and unfair use through packaging imitation: Lessons from the Jägermeister case (遠藤華英, Patent, November 2025)
Updated: 3 hours ago
Article information
Article type: Publication review
Categories: Trademarks, Unfair competition law, Other foreign jurisdictions
Topics: Well-known and famous marks, Confusion
First published on this website: 2026-10-16
Display and classification checked: 2026-10-17
[Article / Australian Trademarks] Protection of well-known trademarks and unfair use through packaging imitation: Lessons from the Jägermeister case (遠藤華英, Patent, November 2025)
A judgment of the Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) concerning protection of the well-known Jägermeister trademark and packaging imitation.
1. Case overview: Jägermeister v SPAR
The plaintiff, proprietor of the globally famous herbal liqueur Jägermeister, sued the defendant (SPAR), which sold products imitating its packaging (orange band, black lettering, deer-head figure, etc.), for trademark infringement and violation of unfair competition law.
Issue: Did the defendant's imitation constitute unfair exploitation of the famous plaintiff trademark's reputation (free-riding) or impairment of its distinctiveness?
Conclusion: The plaintiff won.
2. Key points of the Austrian court's reasoning
Under both trademark and unfair competition law, the court firmly rejected parasitic exploitation of well-known trademarks.
A. Trademark law (§10 Abs 2 MSchG)
No likelihood of confusion is required: A well-known trademark is protected where similarity is sufficient for consumers to make a mental connection (association) between the two brands.
Similarity standard: Similarity in even one of appearance, sound or concept makes an infringement finding likely.
Burden of proof: In principle, the infringer (defendant) bears the burden of proving the absence of unfair exploitation.
B. Unfair competition law (§1 UWG)
Unfair exploitation of reputation: Beyond merely copying a design, free-riding on the premium-brand reputation built by the plaintiff over many years is an unfair commercial practice undermining fair competition.
Aggressive imitation: In particular, using caricatured versions of brand elements highly popular among younger people was held to be aggressive conduct damaging reputation.
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Original AMEBLO article
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2026-10-16: The AMEBLO source was first published on this website.
2026-10-17: Added classification, topic tags, article information, translation navigation, related articles, consultation guidance, and SEO. The original article text was not changed.
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