News
- 21.09.2011 - EU’s Soviet symbol trade mark ban cites Czech opinion
Citing Czech public opinion, a European court has backed a ban on registering the Soviet hammer and sickle symbol as a trade mark.
The hangover of the Soviet Union in the Czech Republic and other former satellite states of Moscow is good enough reason for the hammer and sickle emblem not to be registered as a trade mark in the European Union, an EU court based in Luxembourg ruled on Tuesday.
The General Court of the European Union was reacting to an appeal from a British company Couture Tech Ltd linked to an unnamed Russian designer who sought to register the Soviet symbol as a Community trade mark. The initial application was refused by the trade mark office in 2006 with the company’s reaction an action in the General Court seeking to quash that decision.
In its judgment, the court upheld the original ruling, saying that it was sufficient for symbols to be offensive to the public in some of the EU’s member state to be grounds for refusal. It cited the case of Hungary legislation in particular, wherein, “the sickle, the hammer and the five-point red star are considered ‘to be symbols of despotism’ and their use is contrary to public policy.”
“There is no need to analyze other elements relating to the perception of the relevant public in Latvia and the Czech Republic,” the court added.
