TRADEMARK | The EUIPO on the registration of the name of the author “GEORGE ORWELL” as a trademark

On 19 December 2025, the Grand Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) issued its decision confirming the refusal of the trademark application for the sign “GEORGE ORWELL”. According to the EUIPO, the contested sign “GEORGE ORWELL” will be immediately and unequivocally understood as an indication that the goods and services in question concern the author George Orwell, his writings or the ideas and themes derived from them and is therefore descriptive under Article 7(1)(c) EUTMR. Moreover, the EUIPO considered that the contested sign also lacked distinctiveness under Article 7(1)(b) EUTMR not only because of being descriptive, but also because it consisted of the name of the famous British author George Orwell and, therefore, would be perceived by the relevant public as merely referring to the author rather than as an indicator of origin. Furthermore, the EUIPO specified that, since the sign corresponds to the name of a British author, the relevant public consists primarily of the Irish and Maltese consumers, given their closer links to the United Kingdom. However, Article 7(2) EUTMR states that paragraph 1 also applies if the grounds for non-registrability concern only part of the European Union and, consequently, an obstacle affecting the English-speaking public in the EU is sufficient to reject an application for a European Union trademark.

Newsletter n. 114 – January 2026