SUMMARY
Protege Sports Pty Ltd - based in Australia - is a manufacturer of sports goods and has several recognisable brand names including MGI Golf. It needed to secure EU trade mark registration for its ‘SURESHOT’ product; however, objections were raised by the EUIPO on the grounds that the mark lacked distinctiveness in relation to golf-related products. The application was, therefore, initially refused for registration.
We successfully argued against the EUIPO’s objection, which was based on a claim that the mark would be understood as meaning “intended to assist the golf player to improve his/her play and deliver better shots”.
We were able to demonstrate that the reasoning was flawed and that the negative treatment of the application went against previous decisions of both the EUIPO and other trade mark offices.
VALUE DELIVERED
The experience of our team was crucial in achieving a favourable result for the client. Overcoming inherent registrability objections before the EUIPO - based solely on written arguments - is extremely challenging. As such, the client was very pleased with the successful outcome of the case.
