Pinterest Loses Trademark Case in Europe
- Friday, January 3rd, 2014
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The EU’s trademark office has ruled against scrapbooking platform Pinterest in its battle with a London-based startup for the rights to the company name in Europe.
Pinterest’s claim to the name, which was trademarked in January 2012 by the current owner, Premium Interest, was ‘rejected in its entirety’ by the European Commission’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, Trade Marks and Designs. Premium Interests trademark was even filed two months before Pinterest claimed the name in its home US market.
But, while the Pinterest iOS app is already in use in more than 150 countries, Premium Interest is yet to launch its social news site, or even publically make mention of the trademarked word. That said, Pinterest is yet to make any serious revenue.
Pinterest raised $225m in October last year to help it aggressively pursue international expansion and has already made key hires in France and the UK. It has also been touted as an upcoming social news site itself and was credited with driving conversions for brands during the festive season.
As 2013 marked the year when social got serious, with Pinterest among three social networks to launch mobile ads, a spokesperson for Pinterest told TechCrunch: “We plan to appeal the recent decision.”