Can you render services in paradise?

A Russian applicant obtained a trade mark registration with priority of November 24 2010 for goods in class 9 and services in classes 35, 37, 40, 41. The trade mark includes a word element in Cyrilic, рай для фотографа, which means «photographer’s paradise».

An interested person filed an appeal against the registration with the Chamber of Patent Disputes, arguing that the words photographer’s paradise could mislead the consumer with regard to the place of rendering of services and manufacturing of goods. The person stated that this was not consistent with the truth.

The members of the board of the Chamber of Patent Disputes showed that they are not devoid of a sense of humor. They argued that paradise cannot be regarded as the place for rendering of services and manufacturing of goods. They said the arguments of the appeal were unconvincing and pointed out that the word element рай для фотографа is a figure of speech, which in its essence means a place with favourable conditions for a photographer. The word рай (paradise) according to the Russian dictionary has a figurative meaning: very good conditions of life, happy environment and so on. The trade mark stood.

In this connection a number of questions arise. The appellant argued that the trade mark includes words that could mislead the consumer in terms of where services were rendered. One may infer that the appellant is an atheist, because if he were a believer he would not be so sure or at least he would not know.

A similar question could be raised with the Chamber of Patent Disputes. The members of the board argued that paradise cannot be regarded as a place for rendering services or manufacturing goods. Again, it seems they discussed the issue as atheists and protected the trade mark relying on the figurative meaning of the words.

What would happen if they were of some religious allegiance? The resulting decision would probably have been the same though the argumentation would have been different.