Legal updates and opinions
Authors
News / News
MESSI is a trade mark
By Janine Hollesen and Donvay Wegierski, Directors
In April, the EU court ruled that the degree of similarity between the marks MASSI and MESSI is not sufficiently high to accept that the relevant public may believe that the goods come from the same source. It went further saying that a significant portion of the public would in fact associate the term MESSI with the famous footballer and will therefore perceive MASSI as being conceptually different.
The EU trade mark owner of MASSI for clothing, shoes, bicycle helmets, protective clothing and gloves had previously opposed Barcelona and Argentinian football player Messi’s application for MESSI due to their visual and phonetic similarity in 2013 which opposition was upheld in the first round. The appeal court overturned the ruling allowing Messi’s marks to be registered. With the FIFA 2018 WORLD CUP underway – with a rather dubious start for Messi – this successful appeal favouring Messi is no doubt welcomed.
If you would like to learn more about Intellectual Property please visit our practice area page.
Latest News
Do you have temporary market power? The Competition Commission’s first finding of excessive pricing under the COVID-19 emergency regulations
by Paul Cleland, Director The Competition Commission has, by way of a settlement agreement, concluded its first investigation into excessive [...]
Joint ventures – once competition law’s ugly sister, now beloved Cinderella?
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of the Data Privacy practice and Graeme Wickins, Director As the global economy is [...]
The protection of privacy and personal information. How much personal information will be enough?
One Covid-19. So many tracing apps to locate individuals. "Your recently announced project to respond to COVID–19 by tracking when [...]
Actions that may be taken to address some of the risks arising from the COVID-19 crisis in connection with M&A transactions
by Nozipho Bhengu, Director Introduction 1.1 On the 24th of March 2020, the President of the Republic of South Africa [...]
Success fees to Business Rescue Practitioners: important aspects to consider
By Malachizodok Mpolokeng, Candidate AttorneyReviewed by: Dr. Eric Levenstein, Director and head of the Insolvency, Business Rescue & Restructuring practice. [...]
Letter issued by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 21 April 2020 on the Payment of Dividends (“JSE Letter”)
by Natalie Scott, Director and Tahli Hanan, Candidate Attorney Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable and unanticipated disruption to [...]
