Kikoi kicks up a fuss
The IPKat is intrigued by a story in The Scotsman. A UK company has applied to register KIKOY as a trade mark for clothing. However, the term differs by only one letter from the word KIKOI, a Kenyan woven cloth worn by fishermen, which is also now popular among tourists to Kenya. The head of the Kenyan Intellectual Property Institute said:
The IPKat says that this seems to be an example of the phonetic equivalent of a term that, although not understood as descriptive by many current UK consumers, would be needed in the future by other traders. This would render it descriptive under the ECJ’s watered down freihaltebedurfnis doctrine.
"The move will lock out [Kenyan] exporters from the British market, costing the country millions of shillings and jobs."An opposition is underway by a group of Kenyan exporters, aided by the Traidicraft Exchange.
The IPKat says that this seems to be an example of the phonetic equivalent of a term that, although not understood as descriptive by many current UK consumers, would be needed in the future by other traders. This would render it descriptive under the ECJ’s watered down freihaltebedurfnis doctrine.