The Monopoly case – EUTM re-filings and the concept of bad faith

An European Union Trade Mark (EUTM) can be declared invalid if the applicant acted in bad faith when filing the trade mark application. The concept of ‘bad faith’ is not defined in the EUTM legislation, but the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), has in several cases interpreted the meaning of bad faith and the concept is constantly evolving.

On 22 July 2019, the Second Board of Appeal at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) delivered a decision in which the EUTM ‘MONOPOLY’ was partially invalidated (case No. R 1849/2017-2). Most importantly, the Board stated that the applicant acted in bad faith when re-filing an already registered word mark, for goods and services covered by its earlier EU registrations.