(Article published in the INTA Bulletin of October 21, 2026)
In a notable decision, the Trademark Office in Israel ruled that the ELITE ARAK trademarks are not confusingly similar to the ELIT vodka trademarks (aka STOLI).
The Deputy Registrar rendered this decision on July 19, 2026, after an Israeli company producing arak, an anise-flavored beverage, under the brand ELITE ARAK (Galilee Winecellar Joseph Gold & Sons Ltd.), filed an opposition against several trademark applications (Nos. 303494, 303495, 311903 and 325029) filed by a Swiss company (ZHS IP Worldwide Sàrl) that owns the vodka brand ELIT. Galilee Winecellar Joseph Gold & Sons Ltd. also filed a cancellation request against an older registration (No. 288011) owned by the Swiss company.
ZHS filed trademark applications for different variations and logos of the ELIT mark, while the registration subject to the cancellation request concerned a slightly stylized version of ELIT wordmark.
The Israeli-based opponent is the owner of several older trademark registrations for various logos as well as the ELITE ARAK wordmarks.
ZHS’s trademark applications cover products in class 33 for alcoholic beverages, while the ELITE ARAK trademarks cover only “arak” in the same class.
In its decision, the Deputy Registrar first acknowledged that the opponent presented sufficient evidence that its ELITE ARAK mark is a well-known trademark in Israel. However, since the term ELITE is descriptive and laudatory, the opponent cannot claim exclusive rights in ELITE alone.
The Deputy Registrar also found that arak and vodka are goods of the same category.
The Deputy Registrar then moved to the “triple test” established by the Israeli case law for determining the likelihood of confusion between trademarks. The three parts of the test are:
- The appearance and sound test;
- The type of products, customers and marketing channels test, and
- The “other circumstances and common sense” test.
He further found that the marks were visually dissimilar. While examining actual use of the marks, he also noted the substantial differences in appearance between the bottles of ELITE ARAK and ELIT vodka and the fact that the mark ELITE ARAK appears in Hebrew, contrast to the lowercase English lettering used for the ELIT vodka. Please see the products bearing the disputed marks below:
Left to to right: Swiss company ZHS IP Worldwide Sàrl vodka product with the ELIT trademark, Israeli company Galilee Winecellar Joseph Gold & Sons Ltd arak product
The Deputy Registrar then invoked the “taste test”, stating that there is a clear difference in taste between vodka and arak, which are consumed differently (vodka having a neutral taste and being used mainly in cocktails, in contrast to the distinctive anise flavor of arak). He concluded that the risk of confusion between these products is actually low.
The Deputy Registrar thus rejected the oppositions and cancellation request. The Deputy Registrar ordered, however, that the goods covered by ZHS’s applications and registration be limited to exclude arak.