After the Chinese company decided to file an application to register the BYD Dolphin Mini trademark in the southern country, BMW opposed it, arguing that this would mislead consumers.

China's BYD and Germany's BMW are two of the world's largest automotive companies. Both also offer a wide range of models and are widely sold in Chile.

In this context, a trademark dispute arose that is being fought at the National Institute of Intellectual Property (Inapi), according to Diario Financiero (DF) .

Why? After the Chinese company, known for its catalog of electric vehicles, decided to file an application to register the BYD Dolphin Mini trademark in our country, BMW filed an opposition, stating that the word "Mini" could mislead consumers and cause confusion about the vehicles' origin.

BYD AND BMW IN DISPUTE OVER "MINI" BRAND IN CHILE

This resource and argument are common in this type of dispute, and in this specific case, it responds to the fact that the BMW group includes the British vehicle brand Mini, in addition to Rolls-Royce and the BMW motorcycle division.

Returning to the case, the German automaker claims that Mini has a solid presence and global recognition within the automotive sector.

Therefore, it is stated that "the requested sign (Mini) entirely contains a prior trademark, without the components added to the requested one being sufficient to adequately differentiate them," DF states.

And on BYD's side, the Chinese company's defense claims that the name requested for registration should be analyzed as a whole and not in terms of each of its component parts, adding that the disputed title, "Mini," simply refers to a smaller model of BYD's Dolphin.