TOUTABO wins its lawsuit against Lekiosk

04 Mar 2017 15:30 CET

Paris, February 3^rd March 2017 – In the trial initiated by the company Lekiosque.fr vs Toutabo SA in December 2012, on the use of the brand Monkiosque by Toutabo, Toutabo saw the favorable decision of first instance of 13^th March 2015 confirmed by the Court of appeal of Paris on 17^th February 2017.

This judgment confirms the fact that the Monkiosque brand has been exploited continuously since its creation in May 2006 for the sale of digital press on the internet, reaffirming both the pre-existence of the Monkiosque brand compared to the Lekiosk brand and its distinctiveness.

Because of this dispute initiated by the company Lekiosque.fr that prevented it to invest in putting forward his own brand, the company Toutabo acquired in 2015 the ePresse.fr brand to develop its digital press activities.

"Monkiosque.fr Monkiosque.net" brand was filed and recorded by the CyberPresse Publishing Company on 29 May 2006 and bought by Toutabo on July 19, 2007. The "Monkiosque" brand was filed and registered by Toutabo on January 18, 2011. The two brands are exploited on the digital "monkiosque.com" press site that offers the purchase or subscription of more than 600 press magazines and newspapers in digital reading, on computer or on digital tablets.

The "lekiosque.fr" brand was filed and registered by the company Lekiosque.fr on July 18, 2007, 14 months after the filing of the brand «monkiosque.fr monkiosque.net».

'Lekiosk' and 'lekiosk' as a figurative brand, were filed by the company Lekiosque.fr on 13 February and 23 May 2012, but not registered because of objections made by Toutabo. The company Lekiosque.fr operates the "lekiosque.fr" brand and operates the unregistered trade mark "lekiosk" on its site for the sale of digital press "lekiosk.fr" and on the "Lekiosk" app.

The consequences of the judgment of the Court of appeal will be decided by the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris before the end of the year.

Following this victory and the confirmation of the earlier rights of the monkiosque brand, Toutabo requests before the Paris court and the office of the European union (EUIPO) tjat Lekiosque.fr stops the exploitation of the brands Lekiosk and 'lekiosk' in a figurative format, and transfers the URL www.lekiosk.fr to Toutabo and pays damages for infringement.

About TOUTABO – Your Magazine Subscription Center - www.toutabo.com – www.epresse.fr :

TOUTABO was created in February 2005 with the goal of being a key actor in the consumer loyalty programs based on the sale of magazine subscriptions.

The company is the editor of the internet sites www.toutabo.com for its subscription offer (over 1000 titles sold by subscription and over 4000 titles sold by the issue) and www.monkiosque.fr for its digital press offer.

The activities of the kiosk ePresse created in 2012 by Le Figaro, Les Echos, L'Equipe, Le Parisien and Liberation L'Express , L' Observateur and Le Point , were acquired in July 2015 by Toutabo .

The ePresse kiosk distributes the French press in digital format on all media (computer, smartphone, tablet) . With around 500 titles including most of the national end regional French newspapers, the kiosk ePresse managed to take over 15% market share in less than 3 years (according to a survey conducted by the ACPM)

The trademarks “Toutabo”, “Inter-Magazines”, “Monkiosque.fr” and “PressedeFrance” are trademarks property of the Toutabo Company, registered with the INPI

The company is listed on the Marché Libre of the Nyse EURONEXT Paris, Code ISIN: FR0010621722 - Mnemonic code MLABO

It is reminded that the direct or indirect sale to the public of financial instruments giving access to the equity shares of TOUTABO is limited to qualified Investors (art 411-2 of the French financial monetary code).

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