October 2018. In a ruling of 24 May, the Commercial Court in Brussels ordered clothing brand Excessive to stop featuring a leopard in its device mark because it infringed the trademark rights of the well-known Puma logo.

Confusion

Not only does Excessive’s owner use the leopard in combination with the word Excessive, he also features it on its own, mainly for sports clothing. The court concluded that the animals were too alike and there was consequently a risk of consumers confusing the two trademarks.

Trademarks and designs which have been thrown out for infringing the Puma trademark

Other feline infringements

This isn’t the first ‘big cat’ that’s been refused registration for being too similar to the universally-known Puma trademark. Puma regularly scores victories over would-be feline logos.

Bas Kist