Our Intellectual Property team is proud to announce that we have secured an important and clear win for our client Lacoste in opposition no. 973. This opposition had been filed by Crocodile International PTE Ltd of Singapore in the Cyprus Trade Marks Registry against the registration of our client's word mark no. 54996 CROCODILE. The opposition was dismissed.
Lacoste S.A. is a French company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste, and entrepreneur André Gillier. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels and watches. The company can be recognised by its green alligator logo, connected to the brand through its founder's nickname "the crocodile" by French tennis fans.
From voluminous evidence presented in the matter, it was clear that our client's trademark was widely used in Cyprus, and the well-known character of the trademark meant that the opposition was doomed to fail.