Ricoh Banned from Using ETRIA as Trademark in Europe

Ricoh Banned from Using ETRIA as Trademark in Europe

European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) recently issued a decision, rejecting Ricoh’s application to register the trade mark ‘ETRIA’ in Europe due to high similarity to the existing mark ‘Eldria’, a German manufacturer and assembly service provider, as reported by The Recycler.

ETRIA, a joint venture established between Ricoh and Toshiba Tec, and more recently joined by OKI in October, 2025, focuses on the development, manufacturing ,and sales of multifunction printers (MFPs) and related products. As part of its move to enter European market, Ricoh submitted the registration of the trade mark ‘ETRIA’, which was however successfully opposed by Eldria.

According to EUIPO, the ‘ETRIA’ applied by Ricoh was similar enough to the existing brand ‘Eldria’ to confuse customers and even industry businesses. Both names contain the letters E, R, I, and A in sequence, and are similar in both spelling and pronunciation. Although Ricoh defended that the different starting syllables are sufficient to distinguish these two brands, EUIPO rejected such argument, claiming that customers rely more on overall impression to differentiate company names instead of dissecting them. Under current decision, EUIPO also confirmed that the term “assembly of products for others” in Eldria’s trade mark registration is clear and valid.

As per the objection from EUIPO, Ricoh is now banned from using the brand ETRIA for any specified services and faces a fine of 620 euros. The company now has two months to appeal the ruling, or otherwise it will have to consider entering European market with another name.

Related:

• OKI Joins Ricoh’s ETRIA Venture
• Ricoh Explores Potential Cooperation with OKI for ETRIA Venture
• Ricoh & Toshiba Co-found ETRIA

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