Inter Miami and Major League Soccer (MLS) have recently suffered a
setback in the Trademark
Infringement dispute with Serie A giants Inter Milan, as the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO) dismissed one of the two arguments made by Miami
that it should not be compelled to change its name.
On September 5, 2018, it was announced that the new Major League
soccer franchise in Miami would be named Inter Miami CF – the official name
Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami. As the team continued with a tradition of
MLS teams copying European club titles like Real, Sporting, United, and City,
the announcement raised some cries.
It also raised voices at Inter Milan, which filed a Trademark Application for its official
name F.C. Internazionale Milano S.p.A in 2014 with the USPTO to get exclusive
rights to use the term ‘Inter’ in the US, a move to prevent Inter Miami from
marketing itself as ‘Inter.’ Inter Milan, in its application, contended that
the team has become identical with the word Inter.
Despite the announcement made on September 5, MLS didn’t apply for
the Trademark Registration for the name Inter
Miami CF until September 25, 2018, and it wasn’t until March 2019 that MLS
filed a notice of opposition to Inter Milan’s claim. The league, in the filed
opposition, alleged that due to the widespread use of the word ‘Inter’ in
soccer, the relevant customers don’t associate this word with one soccer team.
Moreover, ‘Inter’ isn’t a source indicator for goods and services related to
soccer.
The notice further claimed that the registration sought by the
Applicant would damage MLS as such registration will prevent registration of
‘Inter’ with other wording even upon a showing of acquired distinctiveness in
association with a soccer team.
According to many reports, Inter Milan successfully applied for a
motion with the USPTO to dismiss the ‘likelihood of confusion’ claim by MLS. As
the USPTO ruled, MLS claimed that several clubs worldwide use the term Inter in
their name; for instance, SC Internacional of Porto Alegre, Inter Atlanta FC,
FC Inter Turku (Finland), Brazil, Inter Nashville FC, NK Inter Zapresic
(Croatia), Inter de Grand-Goave (Haiti), and Inter Leipzig (Germany).
Nevertheless, the claim failed in showing that MLS possesses valid proprietary
or ownership of the name ‘Inter.’
The USPTO ruling undermines one of the two key legal arguments of
Miami. Although Inter Miami has used its right to replead the ‘likelihood of
confusion’ claim and Inter Milan has filed a motion to dismiss it, the legal
battle is expected to continue later this year. For more visit: https://www.kashishipr.com/
Don’t forget to follow us on social
media:
Contact
- US
No comments:
Post a Comment