Football minnows ordered to change badge by Premier League giants

Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur has demanded a semi-professional club change its badge after deciding it was too similar to its own.

Fleet Spurs, which was founded in 1948, was contacted by Tottenham’s lawyers who demanded it remove the cockerel, an image associated with the Premier League club, from its logo.

Although it has no official affiliation with the club Fleet Spurs was set-up by Tottenham fans as a tribute to the North London side.

A spokesman for Tottenham told WIPR it was keen to resolve the situation “amicably” but had to take action to protect the club’s identity as the Fleet Spurs logo was “identical” to its own, apart from the addition of claws on the cockerel.

Tottenham has a community trademark (CTM) for the cockerel image, which was registered in 2007.

The CTM, number 4835229, is registered across a range of classes including sportswear, banners and flags.

Describing the cockerel as a “unique and invaluable identifier of the club,” the club said, “if we do not take action … it can undermine our ability to stop other unauthorised people who use our logo for commercial purposes, such as counterfeiters.”

Lara Grant, senior attorney at Avidity IP in Epping, UK, said she fully understood Tottenham’s position.

“The logos are nearly identical and the use would not only amount to trademark infringement of any registered trademarks, but also copyright infringement and passing off so you can understand their position as they would have spent a lot of time and effort to protect their brand," Grant said.

“In terms of merchandising, Tottenham’s CTM application covers a range of products, including scarfs, t-shirts and hats. If Fleet Spurs had also started to market further merchandise it would create further confusion and a threat to Tottenham’s IP rights”.

Tottenham added that is “very conscious” that Fleet Spurs is a grassroots club, and it had been careful not to ask it to do anything that might incur costs.

Fleet Spurs has been asked to remove the cockerel from its website, which it has already done, and paint over or take it down from signs around its stadium.

However, it has also been told it does not need to change its logo on the strip until the next time it replaces its kit.

“We were also clear that if they agree to these simple steps then there is absolutely no intention to ask them for any damages whatsoever,” Tottenham added.

“Had Fleet Spurs wanted to use this logo in the manner they claim [as a tribute to Tottenham] they could have fairly easily applied for an authorisation,” Grant said.

“The move to allow them to keep the logo until the renewal of their kit is magnanimous and in line with the amicable approach claimed by Tottenham.”

In a statement on its website Fleet Spurs said it was “bemused and extremely disappointed” by the way Tottenham had conducted itself on a “relatively minor” issue.

Its chairman has invited fans to help design the new kit.