Jägermeister overcomes religious concerns to register stag TM
Jägermeister has succeeded in registering a Swiss trademark for its logo featuring a stag and a cross, after convincing the court that it would not offend the country’s Christian population.
The German spirit maker had looked to extend its trademark protection in the country to goods and services beyond its signature liquor products to other classes covering merchandise.
The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property refused the trademark application for certain classes, including cosmetics and entertainment services.
But the Federal Administrative Court (FAC) has now overturned that decision, ruling that the stag and cross symbol was unlikely to offend.
“We’ve been using this logo for decades,” a Jägermeister spokesperson told WIPR. The FAC ruled that the company had made sufficient use of the mark so that it would not been seen as a purely religious symbol.
The court approved Jägermeister’s trademark “in all classes that we applied for,” the spokesperson added.
The stag and cross logo is a reference to the legend of St Hubertus, the ‘Apostle of the Ardennes’, who is said to have converted to Christianity after seeing a stag with a crucifix between its antlers.
The stag logo is listed on the spirit maker's website as one of the ways consumers can ensure they are purchasing authentic, and not counterfeit, bottles of Jägermeister.
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