January 2019. Was Belgian clothing company J&Joy hoping to strike an attractive deal with Juventus when it filed an opposition to the football club’s registration of a new European trademark? If it was, then that party didn’t happen. On 11 January, the European Trademark Office EUIPO rejected J&Joy’s claim that Juventus’ new logo was too close to its own.

No similarity

EUIPO concluded that the two logos were nothing like each other, either visually, conceptually or aurally. The appearance of the word Juventus in the football club’s logo was a key difference.

Big, well-known names

Is there anyone out there who would disagree with this ruling? No: the two logos are completely different. So we wonder why on earth J&Joy invested time and money in the claim? Could it have had anything to do with the fact that the Belgian firm was conscious of Juventus being a big, well-known name?

Bas Kist