NEWS
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NEWS
Battle of the skies: ‘Skype’ is too close to ‘Sky’ says EU court
An EU court has ruled that the public might not be able to tell the difference between ‘Sky’, the name of a British telecommunications company, and ‘Skype’, and so has prevented Microsoft from trademarking the name and the logo. Microsoft has said that it will appeal the court’s decision.
The General Court of the European Union’s ruling doesn’t mean that Microsoft will suddenly have to rebrand, only that the company isn’t able to register the trademark. Reported by the BBC, a judge of the court stated, “Conceptually, the figurative element conveys no concept, except perhaps that of a cloud. [That] would further increase the likelihood of the element ‘Sky’ being recognised within the word element ‘Skype’, for clouds are to be found ‘in the sky’ and thus may readily be associated with the word ‘sky’.”
This has been a longstanding battle between the two ethereal brands, with Skype winning lawsuits over trademark in some countries, but losing in EU courts first in 2005. According to an article in the Guardian in 2010, Sky had conducted consumer research into the similarity of the brands and how that may confuse the public, and authorities had ruled in Sky’s favor. Sky was responsible for the change of Microsoft’s cloud-based storage OneDrive, originally SkyDrive, after a British ruled in 2013 that Microsoft had infringed on a trademark held by Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) – now called Sky plc.
Sky released a statement regarding the win, saying, “This relates to a long-running dispute with Skype over the extension of its trademark applications to cover a broad range of goods and services that overlap with Sky’s own trademark – including, but not limited to, TV related products and services.”
In spite of what happened to SkyDrive Microsoft said that nothing as drastic would happen with Skype, as in this case the complaint was not about the actual use of the Skype name, only it’s registration as a trademark in the EU. Microsoft said in a statement that it does not believe that the two companies brands and services should cause any amount of confusion, and will appeal the ruling.
Photo credit: Tsahi Levent-Levi via photopin cc
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