Lionel Messi Wins Court Fight Over Trademark of His Logo

© Thomson Reuters Soccer Football - Pre Season Friendly - FC Barcelona v Gimnastic Tarragona - Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain - September 12, 2020 FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Albert Gea

 Barcelona’s Lionel Messi won a European Union court fight over the trademark rights to his own logo.
The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg upheld his earlier victory against a Spanish cycling clothes brand that owned the rights to the name “Massi.”

A lower EU tribunal was correct to see Messi’s reputation as “a relevant factor,” the top judges ruled on Thursday.
Messi has been trying since 2011 to get the bloc-wide trademark rights for a logo consisting of an emblem with an M, with the name Messi underneath. The EU’s intellectual property agency and the cycling clothes company owned by Jaume Masferrer Coma appealed the earlier decision that favored the soccer star.
Coma had previously blocked the Argentinian from getting the EU trademark, arguing that he already owned EU trademarks for his brand and allowing Messi to claim one would cause too much confusion with customers.
The case is: C-449/18 P.

​Source: Bloomberg

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