Tesco to appeal against dashes ruling
British supermarket group Tesco has appealed against a decision by the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to refuse it a trademark for the blue dashes under its logo.
Tesco held a meeting with the IPO on Monday (September 29) where it attempted to prove that hearing officer Edward Smith incorrectly ruled that the chain should not be allowed to trademark the dashes.
In August, WIPR reported that the IPO had ruled that although the dashes were recognisable, they were not instantly associated with the company unless the word ‘Tesco’ appeared above them.
At the time Tesco shrugged off the rejection as a “preliminary stage of an ongoing process”.
Earlier this month the supermarket also appealed against an IPO decision to refuse it a registration for the word ‘Clubcard’ as a trademark.
The Clubcard allows regular shoppers to collect points over time which can then be used to convert into vouchers.
Tesco tried to register the name in January 2011 but it was rejected in December last year after the IPO ruled that it was "devoid of any distinctive character" and was "commonly used by third parties".
A decision on both cases is expected in the coming months.
The IPO and Tesco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
