Celebrities
The refusal by the trademark office was based on a provision in the Brazilian Trademark Law, which prohibits the registration of celebrity names as trademarks if it could cause confusion or association.
Urban vs. Rock
The Brazilian judge has now overturned the refusal to register the mark. First, the judge ruled that the name L7NNON is authentic and part of the professional identity of the (well-known) rapper L7nnon—whose real name is Lennon dos Santos Barbosa Frassetti.
Moreover, the mark L7NNON differs clearly in appearance, and the audiences of the two artists are distinct: Brazilian urban music versus the global rock legacy of former Beatle John Lennon.
Yoko Ono
Interestingly, Yoko Ono herself has not been involved in this case so far. The trademark office independently refused the mark L7NNON, and the case before the Brazilian court was between the office and the rapper. So, we still don’t know what Yoko thinks about all this.
Bas Kist
Banner image Yoko One: Eric Koch / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Image John Lennon: Bob Gruen; Distributed by Capitol Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Image L7nnon: Yuri Oliveira, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Source: World Trademark Review
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