International fashion house Hugo Boss has responded to allegations of trade mark “bullying” after a UK comedian legally changed his name to mirror the company’s own.
Joe Lycett revealed this week that he had changed his name by Deed Poll in protest of the German retailer sending cease-and-desist letters to small businesses and charities which used the word “boss” in their branding.
According to Mr Lycett, the stunt – which received global media coverage – was aimed at bringing the enforcement activities of the multi-billion-pound company into the spotlight.
Reports suggest that one small business, Boss Brewing, had to pay nearly £10,000 in legal fees after Hugo Boss challenged the brewery’s trade mark application.
Announcing the name change, Mr Lycett tweeted: “So Hugo Boss (who turnover approx $2.7 billion a year) have sent cease & desist letters to a number of small businesses & charities who use the word ‘BOSS’ or similar, including a small brewery in Swansea costing them thousands in legal fees and rebranding.”
“It’s clear that Hugo Boss HATES people using their name. Unfortunately for them this week I legally changed my name by deed poll and I am now officially known as Hugo Boss. All future statements from me are not from Joe Lycett but from Hugo Boss. Enjoy.”
Commenting on the move, however, the retailer said they welcome the comedian “as a member of the Hugo Boss family”.
“As he will know, as a ‘well-known’ trade mark (as opposed to a ‘regular’ trade mark) Hugo Boss enjoys increased protection not only against trade marks for similar goods, but also for dissimilar goods across all product categories for our brands and trade marks Boss and Boss Black and their associated visual appearance.”
According to World Trade Mark Review, the incident highlights the dangers of negative media coverage when aggressively enforcing intellectual property rights.
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