The Register is reporting that O2 has lost it’s appeal to prevent a competitor using bubbles to represent the company when comparing prices.
Let’s rewind a second – back in 2004, a 3UK TV Ad compared prices between O2 and themselves (which is fine), but the Ad opended with “falling bubbles” – providing a reference to O2’s branding. O2 argued that it’s brand was being misused, and fairplay to them, they went all the way to the European Court, to prevent anyone else using it in the future – however this has failed.
The wider implication of course here is now that any company will be free to use their competition’s branding when comparing products or prices.
Personally, I think this judgement opens a whole can of worms, and is going to lead to some pretty messy legal spats in the future between lots of companies – they should, IMHO, have stuck to allowing competitors to using a company’s name in text only – that’s more than enough for comparative purposes, without involving the complex visual issues surrounding corporate marks, logos, and brands.
[Via: The Register]