The news for the launch of the Super League was one of the biggest in the European football last week. It spurred a great debate and a lot of reactions most of which not so positive. Many football federations, including UEFA and FIFA as well as many football fans expressed their concerns about the new league formed by 12 of the biggest clubs in Europe: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan.
Apart from the pure football aspects of the story, it is interesting to be noticed that there is now an application for the following European trademark in classes 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45:
The applicant is still not indicated but this representation of the mark is equal to what the founders of the new league have already teatas.
A quick search in TMView database for Europe shows a lot of early registered trademarks for some of the above mentioned classes. For example:
International trademarks:
- SUPER LEAGUE – № 1350297, Дата на заявката: 01/12/2016, Класове: 28, 41
- SUPER LEAGUE – № 1514680, Дата на заявката: 01/11/2019, Класове: 09, 18, 25, 28, 35, 38, 41
Italian trademarks:
- SUPER LEAGUE – № 2002901066715, Дата на заявката: 26/11/2002, Класове: 25 SUPERLEAGUE – № 2018000036641, Дата на заявката: 19/11/2018, Класове: 25, 28, 35, 41
European trademarks:
- SUPER LEAGUE – № 016389777, Дата на заявката: 21/02/2017, Класове: 9, 25, 28, 41
- Euroopa superliiga – № 017985567, Дата на заявката: 14/11/2018, Класове: 25, 41
Spanish trademarks:
- Euroopa superliiga – № M4091266, Дата на заявката: 29/10/2020, Класове: 41
It will be interesting whether the new trademark application will receive a successful registration or there will be oppositions against it from the owners of the earlier rights.
Another interesting issue could be to what extent Super League is a distinctive sign for some of the goods and services, in particular for organization of sport events.
