December 2019. Telecoms giant Orange has failed in its bid to overturn the European registration of the world-famous logo Intel Inside. At the end of October, the European Union Intellectual Property Office EUIPO rejected Orange’s claim. Result: the Intel Inside trademark remains protected.
Bad faith
The arguments put forward by Orange in any case sounded a little fabricated. Orange claimed that Intel’s registration was invalid because its description of the products covered was too vague. It added that Intel’s registration had been made in bad faith given that Intel had had no intention of using the trademark for the extensive range of products it had been applied for.
Larger dispute
However, EUIPO concluded that Orange had failed to substantiate these accusations. What’s more, the ruling revealed that the suit was part of a larger dispute. Orange and Intel appear to be locked in a much bigger international legal tussle, of which this case is a minor element – a pinprick in fact. However, the judgement didn’t elaborate on the precise nature of this wider struggle.
Bas Kist
