Advocate General of the ECJ: “Fack Ju Göhte” must be registered as a trademark

The ECJ currently has to decide on the dispute regarding the registration of the sign “Fack Ju Göhte” as an EU trademark. So far, registration has been refused due to an infringement of “accepted principles of morality”. The EUIPO was of the opinion that the words “Fack Ju” were pronounced in the same way as the English expression “fuck you” and therefore constituted a tasteless, offensive and vulgar insult that posthumously insulted the highly respected writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In his Opinion, the Advocate General – whose recommendation is often followed by the General Court – points out that the right to freedom of expression applies in trade mark law, even if the protection of this right is not the primary objective of trade marks, but that trade mark law is essentially concerned with guaranteeing the origin of goods or services to consumers. Although the EUIPO plays a role in protecting public policy and morality, this is not its main task.
(Court of Justice of the European Union, Press Release No. 86/19 of July 2, 2019, PDF).

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