The EUIPO says it’s a no go for a GoPro competitor

The high-end cam recorder company GoPro has built a reputation in Europe for selling technologically advanced devices. These devices allow for the average person to record memories on footage on land and in the water that looks very life-like in the air or in water. One of its most successful lines is its HERO range which is sold by high-end high street retailers such as John Lewis. As a result, when a Chinese company called Shenzhen applied to register a trade mark for its NightHero Technology, it contacted the European Union Intellectual Office (‘EUIPO’) to oppose the mark.

The American company GoPro had previously applied and registered the work ‘HERO’ in the Nice class 9 (covers goods that are to do with the scientific, nautical, surveying, photographic and optical). Consequently, the EUIPO held that as Shenzhen applied-for-mark (‘HeroGoGo’) contained a significant element of the mark that was aurally and conceptually similar to the registered trade mark of GoPro, it could not be registered.

The EUIPO reasoned that although technology consumers are observant of marks in their entirety, an average consumer is likely to only observe the dominant element of the mark (which in this case is the word ‘HERO’).  Thus, Shenzhen could not validly register its applied-for-mark without compromising GoPro’s European business.

By Fatima Amedu