Now you say it: Saxon salami. This is the slogan of one of the most popular commercials run by the media lately. A good campaign, since the sales of this kind of salami have soared. However, it was not only the sales of Cris-Tim that went up, but also those of all the other producers who offer their version of the same product under the same name: Salam Sasesc (Saxon Salami). Producers are now clashing over this brand, which Cris-Tim claims to own, while the rest say it's merely a common noun, also public property.
"The immediate feedback from the market was an 800% increase in our sales on this segment. The demand has stabilised now and we are producing 300% more than we were when we first launched the campaign," Cris-Tim general manager Radu Timis told Ziarul Financiar. However, Saxon salami is also made by other companies in Romania, which took advantage of this increase in demand. As soon as it realised what was happening, that is the upward trend and the introduction on the market of similar products the label of which resembled that of Cris-Tim's products, the company inserted a message in the promotional campaign alleging Cris-Tim is the only legal producer of Saxon salami in Romania.
Radu Timis considers the competitors have merely copied the Cris-Tim product and that is why he served seven of them with legal notices demanding them to stop selling the product under this name. "Some of them agreed. As for the others, if we can't settle, we'll see them in court. In some cases, however, we were unable to find an address or a phone number. We do not know who they are," Cris-Tim general manager says.
Timis says his company was the first in Romania to make the "Saxon Salami" product two years ago, which name he himself chose and that the shape, the composition and the product name were registered with the State's Office for Inventions and Trademarks (OSIM).
The employers' association in this industry, the Romanian Meat Association (ARC) does not agree with Cris-Tim.
"A regrettable misinterpretation of the trademark registration rights allowed Cris-Tim to announce the market would be confined to a sole producer. Actually, the OSIM registration refers to "Cris-Tim Saxon salami" and does not infringe upon the right of any other processors to make and sell the 'Saxon salami' type of products," the employers' association says.
The head of the Trademark Department within OSIM, Stefan Cocos admits Radu Timis' company had indeed submitted an application to register the "Saxon salami" trademark, yet the institution did not grant them the property rights.
"We instructed them to come up with additional data to prove Cris-Tim has actually contributed to make this brand a distinctive one, consider the brand name is generic. We are expecting their answer in three months and we will make a decision depending on the arguments provided," Cocos says.
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