La Liga Fails in its Attempt to Trademark “El Clásico” in Europe
La Liga has failed in its attempts to register “El Clásico” as a trademark. La Liga appealed to the General Court of the European Union for this purpose where the court rejected the Spanish governing body’s appeal.
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División which is commonly known as La Liga (LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons with Santander) is the men’s top professional football division of the Spanish football league system. It is stylised as La Liga and is administered by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional. It contested against approximately 20 teams where the three lowest-placed teams at the end of each season relegated to the Segunda División and got replaced by the top two teams and a play-off winner in that division.
The phrase “El Clásico” is used to describe the derby between two of Spain’s top teams i.e., FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. This phrase got its recognition in the US and the United Arab Emirates when it got trademarked by La Liga in 2017. However, the division was granted permission by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in those two regions but now the division is looking for a similar kind of recognition in Europe.
The General Court ruled: “The evidence presented by La Liga, taken individually or as a whole, did not demonstrate that, on the date of the application for registration, a significant part of the relevant public perceived the trademark applied for as an indication of the commercial origin of the services it designates.”
Although La Liga argued in its favor that the association of El Clásico with the teams has developed a high level of knowledge, popularity, and reputation which surround the phrase globally. However, the General Court did not get convinced with their argument and ruled absolute denial of their trademark registration.
La Liga approached the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) before approaching and being knocked back by the Luxembourg-based General Court where EUIPO rejected their appeal.
Spanish newspaper El País also covered this story stating, “EUIPO opposed the appeal on the grounds that the expression El Clásico will be perceived by the Spanish, French, German, Dutch and Portuguese public as an expression used to describe a sporting confrontation that exists between teams with a notable rivalry, not only in the case of football matches but also other sports.”
Having both rejections in their hands, La Liga is left with their final option that is to appeal the General Court’s ruling to the European Court of Justice.
