On May 4, 2020 the EUIPO Board of Appeal has ruled on the scope of protection of well know trademarks under Article (8)(5) EUTMR. Although the Board recognized that the opponent HUGO BOSS successfully proved that its earlier BOSS trademark enjoys a high degree of recognition among the EU public for fashion apparel, it excluded that such trademark can prevent the similar trademark BOSS SHOT from being registered for electronic cigarettes. The fact that the EU public targeted by these goods may also comprise people who have an interest in fashion does not confirm that there is a ‘link’ between the goods in question, as these goods are clearly distant and is not reasonable to assume that a producer of fashion would move into producing electronic cigarettes which implies different know-how and completely differing considerations meaning that a transfer of knowledge or techniques is impossible. Hence the Board excluded that the use of BOSS SHOT would take unfair advantage of, or be detrimental to, the distinctive character or the repute of the earlier luxury trademark BOSS. #trademarks
