Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2023

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement
Expert AnalysisLocal Insights

Greek Trademark Office rejects application containing an expletive

Sponsored by

patrinos-logo.png
sign-5826751.jpg

Evangelia Sioumala of Patrinos & Kilimiris considers the morals of the story as the Greek examiner takes a conservative stance regarding a trademark application involving the f-word

In a decision of the Greek Trademark Office issued in January 2023, the examiner considered whether the registration of a trademark containing the word “fuck” is contrary to the accepted principles of morality and the public order.

Specifically, the applicant filed an application for the word trademark ‘fuckmyart’ to cover clothes in class 25.

The Greek examiner rejected the registration of the trademark on the basis of absolute grounds due to this being contrary to public policy and to accepted principles of morality, ruling that the Greek translation of the above trademark “has an abusive and blasphemous content that offends public order, morals and accepted moral principles in relation to the fundamental values and standards that Greek society adheres to”.

In relation to the examiner’s decision, it could be argued that the registration of the trademark ‘fuckmyart’ does not offend the public order or morals since the word “fuck” when referring to an object or to any intangible good, such as “art” in the present case, cannot have a literal offensive meaning but could only have a rather euphemistic sense, meaning “destroy my art”.

Furthermore, it should also be noted that the f-word is widely used in Greece, especially among younger people, who are very familiar with the use of many English slang words and habitually include them in their normal vocabulary, without considering them to be offensive, having the meaning of “damn”, “let it go” or “ignore it”.

The Fack Ju Göhte case and other applications

In the above context, C-240/18, concerning ‘Fack Ju Göhte’, should also be considered. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided that to assess whether the trademark is in opposition to the public order or morals, it must, at the time of the examination, be perceived by the relevant public as contrary to the fundamental moral values and standards of society as they exist at that time (C-240/18, Section 41).

Said examination is to be based on the perception of a reasonable person with average thresholds of sensitivity and tolerance, taking into account the context in which the mark may be encountered. To that end, elements such as legislation and administrative practices, public opinion and, where appropriate, the way in which the relevant public has reacted in the past to that sign or similar signs, as well as any other factor which may make it possible to assess the perception of that public, are relevant (C-240/18, Section 42).

Based on the above, the court found that despite the assimilation of the term “Fack ju” to the English phrase “Fuck you”, this was not perceived as morally unacceptable by the German-speaking public at large and the perception of that English phrase by the German-speaking public is not necessarily the same as the perception thereof by the English-speaking public, since sensitivity in the mother tongue may be greater than in a foreign language (C-240/18, Section 68).

In line with the above decision, the trademark application ‘Fucking Awesome’ was similarly not considered to be offensive but rather as having a vulgar message that would be understood by the relevant public as a promotional expression (see CJEU T-178/22, Section 29).

Finally, with regard to the word “fuck” in particular, a few EU trademark applications have been registered by the EUIPO including said term, such as: ‘Rich as fuck’, ‘Fucking hell’, ‘Unfuck the economy’ and ‘Comme des fuckdown’.

Final thoughts

In relation to the examination of whether a trademark application is in opposition to the public order and morals, the general context in which the trademark is found, as well as the perception of a reasonable person who is not exceptionally puritanical, should be taken into account. Nevertheless, the Greek examiner in the present case seems to have adopted a rather conservative view, providing a stricto sensu interpretation of the word “fuck”.

Unfortunately, the examiner’s decision was not appealed by the applicant and therefore the chance the trademark had to be examined by a higher body, and therefore proceed to a more thorough examination, was missed.

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has hired former Anand & Anand partner Swati Sharma and hopes to compete with specialist IP firms
Rapporteur-Judge András Kupecz ruled that education and training weren’t legitimate reasons for a member of the public to access documents
Searches for comparison prior art will be a little easier, but practitioners will have to put more thought into claim construction and design patent titles
The Helsinki local division rejected AIM Sport’s request for a preliminary injunction in a dispute with rival Supponor
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis coverage from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
The FTC’s plans to scrutinise improperly listed Orange Book patents could make these listings more important in litigation, but firms should be looking at this anyway
Counsel at Debevoise & Plimpton explain how they helped food delivery business Grubhub avoid a preliminary injunction at the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
European lawyers tell Managing IP how the legal market is reacting to the first few months of the UPC and why cases are set to take off
The ban could be extended or cancelled, depending on whether Judge Pauline Newman cooperates with an investigation, the Judicial Council of the Federal Circuit stated
Sources say some China-based lawyers are prepared to take large pay cuts to join stable practices, but most firms are sceptical about new hires