A drinks company has been ordered to pay Dame Vera Lynn £1,800 in legal costs after losing a case to trade mark the singer’s name.
According to reports, gin producer Halewood International applied to register the 102-year-old celebrity’s name in June last year due to its recognition as cockney rhyming slang for ‘gin’.
Dame Vera opposed the application, arguing that the usage of her name could be confused as an endorsement for the product.
Halewood, meanwhile, said there was no risk of confusion, as the name in relation to the product is more likely to be associated with cockney rhyming slang than the singer herself.
Dismissing the application, however, Al Skilton, Senior Hearing Officer for the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), said Dame Vera is an “extremely” well-known singer and performer and is celebrated across the country for her charity work.
“Well-known personalities are known to endorse products, there will inevitably be confusion that the opponent has endorsed the applicant’s products,” he said.
“The applicant has failed to provide any evidence of the level of understanding of cockney rhyming slang in the UK, or anything to illustrate the level of awareness of the term Vera Lynn with reference to gin.”
He added: “The evidence falls a long way short of showing that the relevant public for alcoholic beverages will, on encountering ‘Vera Lynn’, see it as a rhyming slang reference for gin, rather than bringing to mind the entertainer Vera Lynn, who has been in the entertainment business for 84 years.”
Halewood is not the first drinks producer to attempt to use a celebrity’s name to market its products. In January 2018, Brewdog won its appeal to continue using the name “Elvis Juice” after a dispute with the Elvis Presley estate.
Despite using the singer’s name, the court said usage of the trade mark could not be confused as an official endorsement.
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