The Court of the European Union have rejected an appeal lodged by AC Milan regarding the use of their wordmark logo internationally, it is claimed.
Calcio e Finanza reports that it was back in June 2020 that Milan appealed the decision not to let the badge become an international trademark as it is already in use in Germany, registered for products of stationery.
The high phonetic similarity and the visual similarity of this logo compared to the “MILAN” trademark ‘entails a risk of confusion on the part of consumers which prevents their simultaneous protection within the European Union’.
But the affair actually goes back to 2017 when Milan submitted an application for international registration to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) but German company InterES Handels-und Dienstleistungs Gesellschaft mbH & Co KG filed an opposition against it because of the wordmark ‘MILAN’ that they began using in 1984 and registered in 1988.
The German company believes that the registration of Milan’s logo ‘is likely to cause a likelihood of confusion on the part of the German public’ and today it has emerged that a new appeal has been rejected because there is too much visual and phonetic similarity.
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As i understand from the verdict – the both logos use the name “milan” and that would confuse the people of Germany. If only the Germans knew there exists a city of MIlan.
But, with the courts of the European Union, what the Germans say goes; the others ? – as if they do not exist.
AC Milan is older than this company from Germany. This is just a court once again disrepecting an Italian Institution because Germany is a richer country. Imagine a French or Spanish Club had a similar case, they would rule in their favour. We have to appeal this ridiculous decision and protect our brand