Lewis Hamilton has been fighting a 3-year legal battle over the name “Hamilton” with a watch company that has been making watches with that brand name since the late 1800’s.
According the the Mail, Lewis Hamilton’s legal team was denied their attempt to prevent Hamilton watches from using the name in the European Union.
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) ruled in the watchmaker’s favor denying Lewis’s request to cancel the trademark filed by Hamilton Watches.
The EUIPO said: ‘The argument relating to the IP rights of the racing driver ‘Lewis Hamilton’ fails.
‘The contested mark consists solely of one word ‘HAMILTON’, and not ‘LEWIS HAMILTON’. It is a rather common surname in English-speaking countries.
‘There is no “natural right” for a person to have his or her own name registered as a trademark, when that would infringe third parties’ rights.
‘Even the cancellation applicant explicitly accepted that the contested mark ‘HAMILTON’ had been used since 1892, i.e. even before the date of birth of “Lewis Hamilton” as a natural person.
‘No bad faith can be found on the part of the EU trademark proprietor. In fact, the EU trademark proprietor demonstrated a significant economic activity in the horological field since 1892.’
Protecting one’s brand is important and you can imagine that as Lewis became more and more popular, his brand became more and more valuable but while some may see his claim as defending his personal brand, others may see it as hubris and in the end, the courts reckoned that the watchmaker has been doing so since 1892 and that trumps Lewis’s claim to the name “Hamilton”.
This is probably true. I seriously doubt that I could successfully defend my last name against an actor who just happens to have it as a first name.
What an arrogant ass. My grandfather carried a Hamilton watch for fifty years with the railroad. And, he retired in 1970.
Obviously your grandfather (or his estate) should pay Lewis Hamilton a fee for an unlicensed use of that name.
Use of the name implies that his grandfather charged people to tell them the time whilst using a Hamilton watch…. For 50 years!
Wow that is really arrogant, Hamilton has been around a long time, longer than you Lewis!
Watch out you can’t say anything bad now that its 2020 or you’re RACIST!!!!
Prince, don’t be so sensitive. That was a joke made with the weapon of sarcasm. I’m off to party like it’s 1999 – see ya
Uh Prince you’re making his point for him.
To be fair to him, he’s probably not even aware of the legal case, it’s just his legal team trying to justify their existence.
Absolutely right. He needs to get rid of them, they are just after his money
LOL! is this for real? I have a Hamilton watch from about 5 years, wich is my pride and joy amongst my 5 watches collections.What’s next? He’s gonna call his dog Seiko and ban the Seiko brand in Europe? This guy is unbelievable moronic.
And in other news… Lewis Hamilton sues the fashion label “Sooky Wanker” for identity theft,
I could be totally wrong, but I really doubt someone bought a Hamilton watch just because Lewis Hamilton is an F1 driver and champion. Again, I could be wrong but come on . . .
I doubt there is big confusion as to which brand is which.
At first, I thought he was suing the musical
Thats probably next! And the 10 dollar bill after!
The musical will now change it’s name to ‘Lewis’
Can the article please mention that Hamilton Watches only registered the name Hamilton in 2014
That’s because this company that has operated for many years without needing to register the name saw that a shark was coming after them
The only true winners are the lawyers! How much did Lewis waste on this case, and which legal expert thought he stood a chance?
Just lost a lot of respect for Lewis Hamilton…
His accomplishments behind the wheel notwithstanding, he showed a substantial lack of character when he decided to litigate against a company simply because it shared a name. What’s next – litigation against the stage production?
He ought to be ashamed of himself.
I’m never going to play devil’s advocate in a ‘Lewis is arrogant’ debate, but in fairness it’s a little different than one might think. Lewis can’t use the name Hamilton on any accessories sold in the EU because the watch company has exclusive rights to do so. So, we can tell Lewis ‘you can’t trademark a common name’ but he could reply ‘that’s what I’m saying!’
Then he should’ve been born earlier and got it done sooner. His fault
You got me on that, he should have established his career prior to 1892. I have no counterargument.
Lewis Hamilton chose asinine(or any number you choose to pick) arrogance in this case. Thank you EUIPO!
Self pretentious comes to mind. I hope he is hit deep in his pockets with court fees. I am surprised how far up his own arse he has travelled
Hamilton lawyers, should have known better and should have never had him pursue this issue. They just wasted his time and money. I would get rid of them.
Fred Rich. Hi Fred, if he was born earlier like you suggested would he of gotten it done sooner if he had to race against
Schumacher,Prost,Senna,Piquet, Hakkinen to name a few? Just a thought.
Sounds a bit like Apple Records Vs Apple Computer to me.
I like watches, and I like F1. I never thought about Hamilton watches and Lewis Hamilton together. BTW Chevrolet could debut a Corvette Luxury model called- the Vette L.