Chanel loses EU trademark court fight with Huawei over logo
- The case centred on a EU trademark registered by Huawei in 2017 featuring two interlocking semicircles
- The European General Court has ruled that Huawei’s trademark is significantly different from Chanel’s iconic logo of two interlocking Cs
French luxury house Chanel on Wednesday lost its trademark fight with Huawei Technologies after a top European court said their logos bear no similarity to each other.
The trademark spat underlines how luxury brands jealously guard their signature logos and trademarks that often symbolise luxury, style and exclusivity to millions of people worldwide.
The dispute dated to 2017 when Huawei sought approval from the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), a trademark body, to register its computer hardware trademark which has two vertical interlocking semicircles.
Privately owned Chanel objected, saying that the design was similar to its registered French logo of two horizontal interlocking semicircles used for its perfumes, cosmetics, costume jewellery, leather goods and clothing.
In 2019, the trademark office dismissed Chanel’s objection, saying there was no similarity and no likelihood of confusion in the mind of the public.
The French luxury house subsequently challenged the ruling at the Luxembourg-based General Court, which dismissed the appeal in its ruling on Wednesday.