Adrian Speck QC acted for the claimants and James Mellor QC and Ashton Chantrielle for the defendant in a partial summary judgment application for invalidity of the claimants’ Community trade mark for a tile used in the claimants board game SCRABBLE.
The defendant was successful on the basis that the claimants tile mark did not comply with article 2 of Directive 2008/95/EC because it was not a “sign”. It was simply an attempt to obtain a “perpetual monopoly on all conceivable ivory-coloured tile shapes” with letters and numbers. Moreover, the scope of the mark was not sufficiently clear, precise, intelligible or objective to attract protection.