Log in

CLASS 46


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.

Want to receive Class 46 by email?
Click here subscribe for free.

Who we all are...
Anthonia Ghalamkarizadeh
Birgit Clark
Blog Administrator
Christian Tenkhoff
Fidel Porcuna
Gino Van Roeyen
Markku Tuominen
Niamh Hall
Nikos Prentoulis
Stefan Schröter
Tomasz Rychlicki
Yvonne Onomor
WEDNESDAY, 24 MARCH 2010
Fucking hell is not blasphemous. Nor disparaging - for hell.

This is from the latest Alicante News, and I am quoting verbally - the author obviously had fun citing the juicy bits, and Class46 readers should be able share the laugh:

The applicant sought to register a figurative trade mark for ‘clothing, footwear, headgear' in Class 25, ‘beers and aerated waters and other non-alcoholic drinks' in Class 32 and ‘alcoholic beverages (except beers)' in Class 33.

The examiner rejected the application the sign used sexuality in order to express contempt and violent anger. The village Fucking in Austria , to which the appellants had referred, had only 93 inhabitants, and no-one knew of it. Furthermore, the right of freedom of expression had to have limits in the case of upsetting, accusatory or derogatory signs

The Board held that in Christian terms, ‘hell' is the place of highest torment. It is a place of damnation. In common parlance ‘hell' is a synonym for something negative and causing torment. If the first word element stands for ‘damned', then the sign designates only that which according to popular belief happens in hell.

Under Article 7(1)(f) CTMR signs may not be registered if they are disparaging, discriminatory, blasphemous or derogatory, incite criminal offences or insurrection.

However, the word combination claimed contains no semantic indication that could refer to a certain person or group of persons. Nor does it incite a particular act. It cannot even be understood as an instruction that the reader should go to hell. The meaning assumed by the examiner is, overall, an interjection used to express a deprecation, but it does not indicate against whom the deprecation is directed. Nor can it be considered as reprehensible to use existing place names in a targeted manner (as a reference to the place), merely because this may have an ambiguous meaning in other languages.

Consequently, the Board annulled the contested decision and allowed the CTM applied for to proceed to registration.

I guess its correct to find that you cannot disparage hell - it's a pretty bad place, I've heard.

Btw, the country overview in this edition of Alicante News is for the Netherlands, if you're interested.  One interesting table from the country report:

Top 10 representatives by number of CTMs received from Netherlands-based applicants

Representative CTMs
NOVAGRAAF NEDERLAND B.V. 4140
ZACCO NETHERLANDS B.V. 2184
MERKENBUREAU KNIJFF & PARTNERS B.V. 1238
ELZAS NOORDZIJ B.V. 1074
VEREENIGDE 844
NEDERLANDSCH OCTROOIBUREAU 761
ALGEMEEN OCTROOI- EN MERKENBUREAU 699
MERK-ECHT B.V. 618
BAKER & MCKENZIE LLP 576
ONEL TRADEMARKS 576

Posted by: Mark Schweizer @ 15.28
Tags: ohim, absolute grounds for refusal, alicante news,
Sharing on Social Media? Use the link below...
Perm-A-Link: https://www.marques.org/blogs/class46?XID=BHA1757
Reader Comments: 0
Post a Comment


MARQUES does not guarantee the accuracy of the information in this blog. The views are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of MARQUES. Seek professional advice before action on any information included here.


The Class 46 Archive






 

 

 

 

 

 


CONTACT

info@marques.org
+44 (0)116 2747355
POST ADDRESS

9 Cartwright Court, Cartwright Way
Bardon, Leicestershire
LE67 1UE

EMAIL

Ingrid de Groot
Internal Relations Officer
ingrid.de.groot@marques.org
Alessandra Romeo
External Relations Officer
aromeo@marques.org
James Nurton
Newsletter Editor
editor@marques.org
Robert Harrison
Webmaster
robertharrison@marques.org
BLOGS

Signup for our blogs.
Headlines delivered to your inbox