Opposition
The conflict between the famous café Hoppe and the beer garden Höpp came to light when Casa applied for a Benelux trademark registration for the Höpp logo. Café Hoppe filed an opposition to this. The company owns two Benelux trademark registrations: one for the word Café Hoppe and one for the separate word Hoppe.
Höpp and Hoppe
Confusion
On 8 January, the Opposition Division of the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BBIE) decided that the trademark Höpp will not be registered for hospitality and entertainment activities. The public could confuse the names Hoppe and Höpp. A decision you could kind of see coming.
Höpp in Hibernation
But for the time being, this case only concerns the trademark registration Höpp, so its use is not yet prohibited. On Casa’s website, you can read that Höpp is just hibernating and will wake up again soon. However, after this decision, Casa would be wise to come up with a new name for the beer garden before Höpp wakes up.
