Picaro not Picasso says judge

Published Date: 19th Jan 2006

Daimler Chrysler has successfully won the rights to continue using the name Picaro, it was announced today.

However, European judges ruled that while the two words sound the same, their pronunciation was sufficiently different to mark them out as separate words.

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The judges ruled: "the reputation of the painter Pablo Picasso is such that it is not plausible to consider that the sign Picasso as a mark for motor vehicles may override the name of the painter.

"It follows that the conceptual differences separating the signs at issue are, in the present case, such as to counteract the visual and phonetic similarities."

The judges also argued that the words brought to mind different associations, since Picasso evoked images of the famous cubist painter, while Spanish people knew Picaro as a character from Spanish literature.

The name Picasso is currently licensed to Citroen for use of their cheap new cars.

Buyers can pick up the Citroen Xsara Picasso Desire from dealers with ?3,400 cashback as part of Citroen's January deals.