Denmark’s top football league opposes European Super League TM
The European Super League’s (ESL) attempt to trademark its name has been opposed by Denmark’s premier football league the Superliga.
The Superliga claims that the beleaguered ESL’s application could result in confusion between the two tournaments. It also accuses the ESL of taking “unfair advantage” of the reputation of the Superliga in Denmark.
The ESL had applied to register a figurative trademark for “The Super League” (application number 018,455,149) in April 2021 and was published in May.
The opposition, filed on Friday, July 16, says that the trademark application infringes two of Superliga’s word marks and a figurative mark registered with the EUIPO in 2001 in class 41 of the Nice Agreement for the “organisation of sports activities”.
The ESL mark is registered under class 35 for event marketing, advertising and promotion and class 41 for the organisation of competitions, organisation and sports competitions.
Grounds for opposition
The focus of the dispute is the wording “The Super League” which is visually, aurally and conceptually similar to “Superliga”, according to the opposition.
The opposition claims that the application and the marks are “nearly phonetically identical” with the only difference being the word “The” and the “slight difference” between the pronunciation of “Lea-gue” and “Liga”.
ESL’s inclusion of a simple graphic element in its figurative mark is not enough to make the marks dissimilar, Superliga claims.
Superliga also considers the services that both leagues provide to be identical or highly similar.
Reputation
The opposition claims that the ESL’s mark takes “unfair advantage” of the reputation of the Superliga in Denmark.
It cites a study of Danish football fans, which says that out of the 51% of Danes interested in football, 72% know of the ESL, whereas 94% of those asked knew of or mentioned the Danish football league.
“The result is thus an expression of the individuals in this target group which is exposed to the Superliga trademark will associate the trademark with the Danish football series,” the complaint says.
Backlash
The ESL was met by almost universal backlash from football fans since its inception in April, leading to nine of the 12 clubs involved withdrawing from the plan.
Formed as a breakaway from what the league’s organisers see as UEFA hegemony, the ESL founders have taken legal action to ensure the tournament gets off the ground, claiming that UEFA breached EU competition law by attempting to block the ESL’s formation.
However, this action was dealt a blow on July 8 when the Court of Justice of the European Union rejected the ESL’s request to accelerate the judicial procedure, according to Politico.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox
Today’s top stories
Mandatory remote hearings can continue, EPO rules
Examining Newman’s dissent in Apple and Samsung camera patent win
