Is 'Kebapçı' (Kebap Shop) A Trademark?

The District Court of Hague adjudged that the word "Kebapçı", which is used to name those restaurants selling kebap and grilled meat products, is a trademark; and the word cannot be used by those other than the trademark owner in the Netherlands.

A restaurant that was opened in Amsterdam in 2017, Kebapçı, registered the name as a trademark in the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg). Another restaurant that was opened in Hague at the beginning of this year was named 'Kebapçı Den Haag' and used a similar logo to the one of the said restaurants. The Kebapçı in Amsterdam requested that the restaurant in Hague change its name and logo. However, Kebapçı Den Haag refused this request. With that, the restaurant in Amsterdam, which is the owner of the brand name 'Kebapçı', took the case to the court and defended that the restaurant in Hague committed a breach of trademark.

The restaurant in Lahey, on the other hand, defended that the words 'kebapçı' or 'kebap evi' are used commonly in Turkish, and it is a defining word such as 'firin' and kasap' for places where kebap could be eaten, and that it cannot be accepted as a trademark. The Court adjudged that an average consumer in the Benelux countries generally could not speak Turkish and could not understand that 'kebapçı' is a generic term; the word 'kebapçı' is distinguishable enough as a brand name, and the restaurant in Hague committed a breach of trademark.