"Kurtoskalacs" starts war in Transilvania

A Harghita-based company registered the Szeckler roll with the OSIM (State Office for Inventions and Trademarks) so that the other producers found themselves operating illegally.

The Szeckler roll, known as “kurtoskalacs,” has become the object of dispute between producers in Covasna and Harghita, after Miercurea Ciuc-based Harmopan Company got the idea of registering it with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (OSIM).

Therefore, under the law, only Harmopan has the right to make and sell kurtoskalacs, considered an emblem of all the Szeckler and one of the oldest and most famous traditional pastry products.

Last month, several milling and bakery companies in Harghita and Covasna counties found themselves served with an official notice from Harmopan company, Miercurea Ciuc, informing them they would no longer have the right to make and sell the pastry product known as kurtoskalacs.

The company informed the owners of the milling and bakery companies that it had an OSIM-issued certificate, which granted it exclusive rights over this product between August 30, 1999 and August 30, 2004.

“We have information showing you are producing and marketing the product in question. The punishment for this violation of the law is 6 months to 2 years in prison.

Therefore, we would kindly ask you to stop making and marketing this product, as it damages the interests of our company, qualifying as an infringement of the law at the same time. In the event that you keep producing and marketing any of the products specified in the appendix, after being served with the present notice, we will find ourselves forced to file a complaint for a lawsuit against the management of your company. We will be civil party in this complaint,” the notice issued by Harmopan management read.

The Harghita-based company registered its product with OSIM. Under the Law 129/1992, regulating the protection of industrial property, Harmopan has exclusive rights over producing and marketing the Szeckler roll in Romania. Moreover, it may prohibit any other producer to continue manufacturing it, or request it would file for a licence for the product.

Harmopan’s commercial manager Fustos Jozsef says the company decided to register the trademark with OSIM back in 1999, after an Italian company did the same thing for a series of bread and other milling and bakery products assortment.

“To keep others from registering our own traditional products, one of the employers’ association dealing in milling and bakery decided to file for a registration of several products, kurtoskalacs included.

The necessary documents were submitted and OSIM Bucharest sent back the necessary certificates to register the design and industrial model. We filed the application with OSIM on June 30, in order to register the individual trademark of kurtoskalacs.

OSIM’s answer, notifying us that the product had been registered along with several others, came in 2000,” the commercial manager of the company says.