Background
The previous big bad of mixed martial arts Conor McGregor has notoriously lost another fight in a legal battle between a Dutch clothing company. McGregor had plans for increasing his brand awareness and protecting his brand across the EU. However, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) upheld the objections of the opposition company ‘McGregor IP B.V.’ against the fighter’s own company ‘McGregor Sports and Entertainment Ltd’ (MSEL) to register the trade mark ‘Conor McGregor’ for the sale of garments, footwear and leisurewear across the EU. The Dutch company designs, manufactures, distributes and sells mainly clothing and accessories under the ‘McGregor’ brand.
EUIPO decision
The EUIPO has rejected the trade mark application after concluding that the trade mark is highly likely to cause consumer confusion including the possibility of consumers associating the brand with the famous Conor McGregor’s own brand MSEL. The EUIPO went on to explain that the Dutch company is well known and that MSEL must be accountable in relation to the costs incurred by the Dutch clothing firm.
Concerning the current case, the EUIPO further explained that the likelihood of confusion in regard to consumers contains circumstances where the consumer clearly confuses the trade mark themselves, or where the consumer makes a link between the conflicting marks and perceives that the goods stem from the same economically linked undertaking.
In the words of the EUIPO, “Indeed, it is highly conceivable that the relevant consumer will perceive the contested mark ‘Conor McGregor’ as a sub-brand of the earlier trade mark” therefore a significant likelihood of consumer confusion. The EUIPO also explained that it is immaterial that the contested mark has a different beginning starting with ‘Conor’ because this does not outweigh the connections produced by the common surname ‘McGregor’. Thus, the EUIPO’s decision to reject the application of the ‘Conor McGregor’ trade mark is final.
Previous Opposition
This is the second time that the EUIPO has rejected MSEL to register the ‘Conor McGregor’ brand after a previous opposition from McGregor IP B.V. The Dutch company was formerly successful in December 2020 in opposing an application by MSEL to register ‘Conor McGregor’ as a trade mark during the 4 years of back-and-forth disputing. The Dutch company did in fact obtain IP rights for the ‘McGregor’ trade mark portfolio in October 2017.
By Zohaib Tahir, an LLM student at Solent University
