Very old Obelix registration

The French thought they had a secret weapon to bring a halt to the trademark registration. Albert René turns out to own a very old French trademark registration of the name Obelix for firearms. The French thought that would come in handy now, so they filed an opposition to the Poles’ application.

Use is required

But that came to nothing. In trademark law, the rule is that you only maintain your rights by using the trademark. So if you do not use the trademark for five consecutive years, you can no longer rely on your registration.

Obelix

Comics and merchandise

During the opposition procedure, it was quickly apparent that the French had never used the Obelix brand for weapons. Their business is in comics and merchandise, not bombs and grenades. And so the opposition failed. Here is an important lesson for those in opposition: always check you can prove usage of your trademark for the registered products.

Bas Kist