The Spanish Supreme Court has issued a Judgment on the simultaneous use of trademarks, providing important guidance on the concept of genuine use under Spanish trademark law.
In certain circumstances, the same company may use two trademarks simultaneously to identify the same goods and/or services. Although recognised between our Courts, this type of use may give rise to highly complex legal issues, particularly when assessing whether a trademark has been put to genuine use for the purposes of defending it against a revocation action for non-use.
This was precisely the issue in litigation handled by our firm, in which the company ACCIONA sought the revocation for non-use of several REACCIONA trademarks owned by our client arguing non-use.
The REACCIONA trademarks were used in a manner that enabled consumers both to identify the companies’ owners as belonging to the same companies group, but also as to associate those services with the individual company offering the services.
Both the Court of First Instance and the Madrid Court of Appeal held that the evidence submitted did not establish use of the marks as indicators of an origin. In their view, the signs merely informed consumers of the membership of a corporate group and therefore failed to fulfil the essential function of a trademark.
However, after almost ten years of litigation, the Civil Chamber of the Spanish Supreme Court, in Judgment No. 1206/2026 of 20 July 2026, overturned those decisions. The Court accepted the arguments advanced in our appeal and held that the REACCIONA marks had indeed been put to genuine use. It found that their use fulfilled the trademark’s essential function of identifying commercial origin while also serving its advertising function, which the Court regarded as a complementary form of trademark use.
This Judgment establishes an important precedent for assessing simultaneous trademark use and the concept of genuine use and will undoubtedly become a significant point of reference in future revocation proceedings.
After a decade of litigation, it is an especially rewarding outcome for our client and for everyone involved in the case.
