April 2019. International TV personality Sylvie Meis, best known to viewers in the Netherlands and especially in Germany, has lost the opposition she filed with the European Trademark Office EUIPO. On 21 February, the model was told she couldn’t halt the European registration of SusyMei, a trademark for clothing owned by Chinese company Tongyu Zhang.
Sweat-absorbent underwear
Zhang applied to register SusyMei not just for clothing but also for arch supports in shoes and sweat-absorbent underwear, products the celebrity beautician was understandably unwilling to be associated with.
Clothing and Christmas tree decorations
Meis has in fact already registered the name Sylvie Meis as a European trademark through her company Meis Enterprise GmbH. The registration covers a large number of products ranging from coffee-makers to clothing and Christmas tree decorations to kitchenware.
Association with Meis the model
EUIPO however concluded that consumers would associate the word mark Sylvie Meis chiefly with the well-known model, and that SusyMei clearly denoted someone or something else. And while the word Mei does look like Meis, the overall impression made by the two trademarks was different, EUIPO said. So your SuzyMei sweat-absorbent underwear is safe for the time being!