Adidas block on FC Barcelona trade mark

Sportswear giant Adidas have exerted their authority and filed a notice of opposition in relation to a trade mark application filed by Spanish football team FC Barcelona.

The application in question was a red and blue stripe design filed at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The design was described as a “square containing seven vertical stripes. The 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th stripes from the left are blue, and the remaining three stripes are garnet.”

FC Barcelona is looking to register this design for goods such as t-shirts, footwear, sports equipment and posters.

After considering the mark, it was published for opposition in March this year.

Following this, Adidas have filed an opposition that will now be considered.

The basis of this was in relation to their stripe design.

The brand stated that Barcelona’s mark “incorporates parallel stripes in a manner confusingly similar to the ‘Three-stripe’ mark in appearance and overall commercial impression”.

By allowing the mark to be registered, Adidas said that it will seriously injure their reputation and dilute the strength of its own stripe mark.

It will be interesting to see how this case will progress, will a big brand once again stamp their authority and create a monopoly over such a commonplace design such as stripes.

By Ellis Sweetenham