Siqueira Castro Advogados assistance Peixe Urbano in prevails in lawsuit filed by the maker of Hotel Urbano

São Paulo, September 2016 - Peixe Urbano, represented by Siqueira Castro – Advogados, obtained an important victory in the STJ (Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (STJ) The lawsuit discusses essentially the violation of Peixe Urbano’s industrial property rights and unfair competition acts as a result of the illegitimate and unauthorized use of the word “Urbano” by the Hotel Urbano to perform activities related to electronic commerce, including the dispute for the brand name, the colours (blue and orange), the logo (buildings), the layout and diagramming of the website and company’s “terms of use”.

The use of these elements by Hotel Urbano represents a severe violation of Peixe Urbano’s intellectual property rights and consists a clear situation of unfair competition. Furthermore also causes huge confusion among clients and consumers that believe they are dealing with companies connected or controlled by the same business group.

The illegal practice adopted by Hotel Urbano triggered huge revenue losses to Peixe Urbano as consequence of unpaid royalties, clients poaching, brand depreciation and sales drop.

The lawsuit required important accomplishments and efficient interaction of several areas of our law firm, especially from our strategic litigation team together with our intellectual property department, competition department and consumer department, demonstrating the relevance of this multidisciplinary cause.

Additionally, all local branches of our law firm were involved in data collection with local Procons and local institutions related to the consumer’s right protection, as well as to the study of the costumer’s behavior in various regions where Peixe Urbano operates and the impact caused on its brand with regard to the violation of its intellectual property rights.

Siqueira Castro - Advogados
Partners: Marcos Serra Netto Fioravanti, Luis de Carvalho Cascaldi, Eduardo Riberio Augusto