December 2017. Adidas has successfully foiled an attempt by a Mr Xiangqun Zhang to register a clothing label after the European Trademark Office EUIPO ruled it was too similar to adidas’ own.

Amazingly crude copy of the adidas logo

Clumsy

The logo Mr Zhang tried to register is a very crude design and looks as though it’s been done by a five-year-old! It’s a remarkably poor and clumsy copy. Fortunately it won’t be given a place in the European trademark register.

Innovative

EUIPO issued its ruling on 6 December 2017, the same day on which the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) announced that due to ‘innovation’, the number of global patent and trademark registrations had risen sharply again in 2016, mainly on the strength of applications from China. Luckily most of these new Chinese trademarks will more ‘innovative’ than what Zhang was offering.

Bas Kist