Geographical name?
Was the mark refused because Alaska is a geographical name? Geographical names often run into trouble during trademark registration. For example, in July 2025, the British supermarket Iceland lost its registration for the trademark Iceland because the European General Court ruled that the name is not distinctive for various food products. When consumers see products labeled Iceland in the supermarket, they don’t perceive it as a brand but rather assume the products come from Iceland. Such a geographical name cannot function as a trademark—it’s not distinctive, and you can’t claim exclusive rights to it.
Desolate
But is that also the case with Alaska? Would consumers, when seeing a pack of cigarettes or chewing tobacco labeled Alaska, really think that those cigarettes come from the sparsely populated and somewhat desolate state of Alaska? That seems rather unlikely.
Public order
Reading further into the EUIPO’s refusal, it turns out the issue has nothing to do with Alaska being a geographical name. No, the problem is something else entirely—Alaska is apparently a well-known drug. According to the EUIPO, the average consumer associates Alaska with a strain of cannabis. The tobacco brand Alaska could therefore promote the recreational use of cannabis, the EUIPO argued. As a result, the mark is contrary to public order and cannot be registered.
EasyWeed and Hollyweed
Well, I didn’t see that coming. I had never heard of the drug Alaska. I suspect this is a typically “European” refusal. The EUIPO sets the bar very high when it comes to marks that have any link to drugs. Recently, the trademarks EasyWeed and Apollo (apparently also a drug) were both refused. The same fate befell the logos shown below.
Benelux
Still, I’d be inclined to take my chances registering Alaska as a tobacco brand in the Benelux. The Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) tends to be much more lenient in these cases—undoubtedly due to the Netherlands’ liberal attitude toward soft drugs. In fact, I think all the marks mentioned in this article would likely get registered as Benelux trademarks without much trouble.
Bas Kist
Photo by Joris Beugels on Unsplash
