Pinterest had a great 2013, seeing double-digit growth in social sharing, and according to the European Trademark Office, it doesn’t own the term “Pinterest.”
Recently, the social network attempted to gain rights to the term in Europe, but the country’s Trademark Office ruled in favor of Premium Interest, a social news aggregation service.
Created by Alex Hearn, Premium Interest applied for the “Pinterest” trademark in January 2012.
Despite Pinterest already owning the trademark in the United States, the social network had yet to officially launch in Europe during the time Hearn applied for the trademark.
OHIM stands for Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, the office that ruled in favor of Hearn, and here’s what Adam Morallee, a partner at the law firm that represented Hearn, had to say:
“Pinterest may well appeal but the rules of OHIM are that no new evidence can be put forward. To win the case they have to show they had rights before Premium Interest in Europe. OHIM refused that on the basis of the evidence [Pinterest] put forward. The fact they are well known in the U.S. is not relevant. What matters is their rights in Europe. And they didn’t have any at the relevant time.”
According to a Pinterest spokesperson, the social network plans on appealing the decision.
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