Patent Office saves biblical bread for all

An applicant recently filed a trade mark application for Библейский Хлеб (Biblical Bread) in Cyrrilic. The Patent Office rejected the application, the decision was appealed at the Chamber of Patent Disputes and the Chamber sided with the examiner of the Patent Office. One of the reasons for rejection was that the designation Библейский Хлеб indicates a certain product and the composition of the product used by many bakeries in Russia. The decision of the Chamber also explained that the claimed designation has a marked religious connotation. The Bible is a sacred book and the use of the associated word for marking any goods may mean that consumers think those goods are produced by persons who have a direct connection to some religion.

The applicant explained that he was one of the world leaders in the production of ingredients for bakeries. He also argued that he had produced Biblical Bread for a long time, that he combined all 12 ingredients that had been used in ancient Jerusalem for making bread. The Chamber of Patent Disputes did not accept the applicant’s arguments because given multiple references to biblical bread in the Bible, the claimed designation is not perceived by people as a trade mark that can individualize the product of one producer. This view is also supported by findings taken from the internet, where one can find many articles and recipes for Biblical bread. Indeed, there is no evidence of association with the trade mark. There are also many Russian producers of biblical bread. As it turned out the Chamber of Patent Disputes supported the view that the designation has marked religious semantics and because of that consumers may have the false impression of special properties of the products, and of the allegiance of the producer to some religious faith.