Acquiescence confirmed despite new packaging
On 10 October 2025, Cooper Consumer Health (formerly Vemedia) achieved a final victory against P.K. Holdline B.V. before the Dutch Supreme Court, concluding proceedings that lasted nearly six years. Cooper succeeded at all judicial levels.
The dispute concerned Cooper’s use of its LEEF VITAAL word and figurative trademark on food supplement packaging, which PK claimed infringed its LUCOVITAAL marks.
PK had tolerated Cooper’s use of LEEF VITAAL for more than five years before bringing proceedings. The Court of Appeal found that PK had therefore forfeited its right to object (acquiescence). PK argued that Cooper’s 2019 packaging, which used the same mark but a slightly different layout, constituted a new and infringing use. The Court of Appeal rejected this argument, agreeing that the packaging changes were non-distinctive and did not restart the limitation period. The Supreme Court dismissed the complaints against the decision of the Court of Appeal.
Key takeaway: Once a trademark owner has acquiesced to the use of a younger registered trademark, it cannot revive its rights merely because the mark appears on modified packaging which contains new but non-distinctive elements.
Cooper Consumer Health was represented before the Supreme Court by Frank Eijsvogels and Joris van Manen, and before the lower courts by Joris van Manen.