Hasbro loses rights over trademark ‘Monopoly’
NEWS
By Vijay Chauhan
On April 21, American toy and board game conglomerate Hasbro has had its EU trademark for the ‘Monopoly’ board game partially invalidated after the EU General Court found its filing process was strategically planned to avoid proving genuine use. According to EU law, trademarks granted by the EUIPO can be invalidated if the owner cannot prove genuine use five years after the mark was registered. Many big companies abuse the process and circumvent the requirement with the refiling tactic called ‘evergreening’. Hasbro already had multiple registrations for the word mark
NEWS
MONOPOLY, but in 2010 it applied to register the mark in several other classes and was granted registration in March 2011. This judgement came after the decision of EUIPO, which invalidated the trademark for goods and services in classes 9, 16, 28 and 41, which include games and entertainment. The EUIPO ruling came after a 2015 lawsuit filed by Croatian board game seller Kreativni Događaji, which sought the invalidation of an EU ‘Monopoly’ trademark registered in 2011, alleging that the mark had been registered in bad faith. Hasbro cited the popularity of the game and stated that “it would be fanciful to suggest it has not used the trademark in connection with games”.
By Vijay Chauhan
NEWS
It argued that they had added goods and services to each new filing and that a lot of companies used this filing tactic. However, they also admitted that one of the reasons that they re-filed the mark was to avoid having to prove use in opposition proceedings. The Board of Appeal invalidated the trade mark for all the goods and services that were identical or similar to those covered by the earlier registrations. The court also ordered Hasbro to pay legal costs incurred by Kreativni Događaji during proceedings before the EUIPO.
By Vijay Chauhan