Now in its twelfth year, Class 46 is dedicated to European trade mark law and practice. This weblog is written by a team of enthusiasts who want to spread the word and share their thoughts with others.
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Text-book - or rather: porn-film - case of tarnishment
UBS threatens to sue the Swiss distributor of a porn film with the title "USB - Our Swiss Bank" (or possibly already sued, the news article is not entirely clear). If you look at the image above I'd say that they have a pretty good case (btw, the original cover does not have the two white strips over the strategically important places; I've added them for the benefit of our American readers, where one apparently can get fired for looking at a nipple at work).
The producer notes that he is not using the trade mark UBS, but rather USB, and that the three keys, which look suspiciously like the UBS keys, are also part of the crest of his home town. Well.... these have to be the worst excuses ever. On the other hand, he got the publicity he wanted, and UBS will have great difficulty proving financial damages.
Source (with uncensored image)
Tags: tarnishment, famous mark, reputation, Switzerland,
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10 March 2010 @ 15.28
In the topic of lame excuses... there was a preliminary injunction case some 5 or 6 years ago before the Court of Samos, Greece. The guy was selling gin under the name "Gorgons". Although, you can probably imagine the color combination of the label you might not imagine that the label also included the picture of a mermaid! The reason: Mermaid in Greek = γοργόνα (gorgona), mermaids = γοργόνες (gorgones). So the argument was that the word "Gorgons" means mermaids!
