Bad faith

Trademark protection in the European Union aims at helping businesses to distinguish their goods or services in overcoming national barriers that still persist in many areas of intellectual property protection. Deciding on European trademarks, EUIPO (as well as its Boards of Appeal) is sometimes called upon to assess the existence of "bad faith", "public order" and "morality". The recent declaration of invalidity of the trademark of Banksy's "Flower Thrower" highlights how EU trademark law was conceived to also protect other closely interconnected rights: fundamental rights, competition rights, and the rights of "Third Parties". Their protection is therefore directly linked to the logical interpretation of "undetermined concepts" in the relevant context.