UKIPO judges NFL trademark out of bounds

The National Football League (NFL) has failed in its bid to register its ‘12’ trademark for clothes in the UK.

In a decision issued Tuesday, November 5, the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) ruled that the NFL mark was likely to cause direct confusion with another UK brand, Duf.

The NFL filed the application at the IPO in May 2018 in classes 24 and 25, covering goods such as bedding and men’s clothes.

The NFL logo features the number 12, stylised in the typeface found on American football jerseys, against a blue background.

Duf opposed registration of the mark in class 25 for clothing, footwear, and headgear, citing its own ‘12’ mark covering mens’ clothing.

In its decision, the IPO found that there was a likelihood of direct confusion between the marks owing to their high level of similarity.

Last year, the NFL unsuccessfully petitioned the IPO to block a tiger’s head trademark owned by a Muay Thai (a martial arts discipline) training camp.

The football league had argued that the ‘Tiger Muay Thai’ mark was overly similar to a logo used by the Cincinnati Bengals team.

The NFL owns trademarks for the logos used by the teams which compete in the league.

In its decision, the IPO said the NFL had failed to prove genuine use of its Bengals mark (EU number 3,347,119) over the preceding five year period.

IPO examiner June Ralph, who also issued this week’s ‘12’ decision, said at the time that the NFL’s evidence of use fell “far short of the sufficiency and solidity needed to meet the standards of proof required”.

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