Relevant provisions of the Hungarian trademark law in force:
-The registered trademark confers on its proprietor exclusive rights to use the trademark with respect to goods and services for which the trademark is registered (Article 7).
-Trademark infringement is committed by the unauthorized use of a registered trademark or of a sign confusingly similar to the registered trademark for goods and services identical or similar to those enumerated in the list of goods of the registered trademark (Article 13).
It follows from the above that when both the sign and the goods or services are identical, neither the law nor the legal practice requires any proof as to the likelihood of confusion.
Should, however, either the sign or the goods or services not be identical but similar, it is the proprietor of the registered trademark who has to allege and to make it probable that there is a likelihood of confusion. No proof to the effect that confusion has in fact occurred in the trade is required.
A new law on trademarks is under preparation and is expected to enter into force in July 1997. The draft of the new law contains more detailed provisions on the rights conferred by a trademark, basically in conformity with Article 5 of the EC Council Directive . Accordingly, there seems to be no change insofar that the proprietor of the trademark will not have to prove the likelihood of confusion with respect to the unauthorized use of identical signs for identical goods or services.
