No trademark right to "Je suis Charlie"
In France, there will be no trademark rights for the "Je suis Charlie" statement of solidarity, which has been circulating worldwide since the bloody attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Applications to this effect have been rejected.
This was because they did not meet the necessary criteria, the French Institute for the Protection of Intellectual Property (INPI) announced on Tuesday. The slogan could not be used commercially by a market participant because it was already in widespread collective use. According to the INPI, numerous applications for trademark rights for the "Je suis Charlie" logo or allusions to it have been filed since the attack on Wednesday last week. However, they have not been registered because they do not meet the requirement that trademark law requires a "distinctive character". The AFP news agency learned from informed sources on Monday evening that over 50 applications for the "Je suis Charlie" logo had already been submitted. According to the short message service Twitter, one application, for example, was submitted by an industrialist who manufactures scales, fire extinguishers and spectacle cases, among other things.
The logo was created a few minutes after the attack on Charlie Hebdo by Joachim Roncin, the artistic director of the free magazine Stylist. The three words are printed in white and gray with the typical characters of the satirical magazine on a black background. Roncin said in a tweet that anyone was free to use the statement of solidarity, but that he would regret any "mercantile use". The logo, which has achieved sad fame, is already emblazoned on numerous T-shirts, stickers and pendants that have come onto the market since the attack last Wednesday. Such products were offered by hawkers during the mass demonstrations on Sunday. In addition, websites such as Jesuischarlie.fr, Jesuischarlie.com and Jesuischarlie.org were created on the day of the attack. According to Twitter France, it has also already been featured on more than five million short messages. (SDA)
