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Football superstar Lionel Messi wins seven-year trademark battle against Spanish bike brand Massilionel_messi_licensed_cc_by_2.0_on_wikimedia_commons_by_lluis_from_sabadell.jpg

Football superstar Lionel Messi wins seven-year trademark battle against Spanish bike brand Massi

EU court rules that FC Barcelona star can use his surname for sports products, overturning earlier ruling
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Apr 30, 2018 17:40
18

Superstar footballer Lionel Messi has won a seven-year legal battle to register his surname as a trademark, overturning a previous decision in favour of long-established Spanish bicycle brand, Massi.

The Massi brand – not to be confused with Masi, originally founded in Italy and now based in the United States – was launched in Spain in the 1970s.

Owners Casa Masferrer have been active in bicycle production since 1934, and are based in the city of Granollers, near Barcelona.

In 2011, when Messi – who had joined FC Barcelona’s youth ranks in 2001 – sought to register his name as a trademark with the European Union Office for Intellectual Property (EUIPO), Massi lodged an objection.

The Argentine international was named last week by France Football Magazine as the world’s richest player with career earnings of £28 million, putting him ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, the ongoing legal battle has prevented him from exploiting his own surname until now, with Massi arguing that his branding was too similar to its own as he sought to trademark it for sports goods and apparel.

Initially, the EUIPO agreed with Massi, saying that the branding, “consisting of the terms 'Massi' and 'Messi', are almost identical visually and phonetically."

It added that not everyone would be aware of the distinction between the two.

However, in a judgment published last Thursday, the General Court of the European Union ruled that Messi’s fame is such that there could be no confusion between the two in the mind of the average consumer.

The court said: "The football player's fame counteracts the visual and phonetic similarities" with Massi.

"Mr Messi is, in fact, a well-known public figure who can be seen on television and who is regularly discussed on television or on the radio," it added.

Aged 30, Messi yesterday evening won the Spanish league title for the ninth time with FC Barcelona, who he has also helped to four Champions League victory.

The all-time leading goal-scorer for both his club and country, he also won an Olympic gold medal with Argentina at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 when aged 21.

Lionel Messi
Massi Bike
trademark
intellectual property
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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18 comments

Avatar
The Gavalier | 5 years ago
0 likes

What about Carerra and Carerra? How did Halfords get away with that?

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captain_slog | 5 years ago
0 likes

While googling famous Lionels I discovered that the Charles Darwin professor of anthropology at Rutgers University is called Lionel Tiger. This, simple soul that I am, quite made my evening. Should he launch an adventure-clothing brand I'll find it hard to resist.

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DaSy | 5 years ago
2 likes

The thing that always used to confuse me was the Massi or Masi thing. Masi is a stunning Italian steel frame-builder working out of Cali USA since the 70's, whereas Massi are a fairly generic Spanish bike brand.

The footballer bloke seems far less likely to cause confusion than another bike brand with an almost identical name.

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Rapha Nadal | 5 years ago
2 likes

This is as stupid as the whole Alize/Allez thing between Specialized & Neil Pryde.

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RobD | 5 years ago
2 likes

Surely the original ruling should have just been that he can't register it as a trademark for bikes/bike clothing. Seeing as he's famous for football I can't see it being that likely that he'll want to launch a range of bikes anyway.

Copyright/Trademark law is ridiculous, the only winners are the lawyers.

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J90 replied to RobD | 5 years ago
0 likes

RobD wrote:

Surely the original ruling should have just been that he can't register it as a trademark for bikes/bike clothing. Seeing as he's famous for football I can't see it being that likely that he'll want to launch a range of bikes anyway.

Copyright/Trademark law is ridiculous, the only winners are the lawyers.

 

He's a cyclist too actually, he's ridden with Fernando Alonso, fun fact.

Avatar
RobD | 5 years ago
0 likes

Surely the original ruling should have just been that he can't register it as a trademark for bikes/bike clothing. Seeing as he's famous for football I can't see it being that likely that he'll want to launch a range of bikes anyway.

Copyright/Trademark law is ridiculous, the only winners are the lawyers.

Avatar
Richard D | 5 years ago
2 likes

Massi won't be confused for Messi.  ASOS won't be confused for ASSOS.  But SULETS and su lets are too similar.

Thank goodness trademark law is so clear!

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captain_slog | 5 years ago
1 like

... but seriously, why can't he just use his first name? That's what Brazilian footballers do.

And there aren't many other famous Lionels to cause confusion. I can only think of Blair and Richie off the top of my head.

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Jitensha Oni replied to captain_slog | 5 years ago
0 likes

captain_slog wrote:

... but seriously, why can't he just use his first name? That's what Brazilian footballers do.

And there aren't many other famous Lionels to cause confusion. I can only think of Blair and Richie off the top of my head.

 

yebbut nobut

 

http://www.lionel.com/

https://poshmark.com/browse/Lionel-Brand-Handbags

https://lilyandlionel.com/

 

 

Avatar
Kendalred replied to captain_slog | 5 years ago
0 likes

captain_slog wrote:

... but seriously, why can't he just use his first name? That's what Brazilian footballers do.

And there aren't many other famous Lionels to cause confusion. I can only think of Blair and Richie off the top of my head.

Well he's Argentinian, and they tend to go with the good old fashioned surname. Brazilian footballers on the other hand, are a law unto themselves when it comes to what name they have on their shoulders, and to some extent Portguese as well (must be something to do with the Portuguese language norms), and can be completely unrelated to their family name.

Garrincha, for example, means 'Little Bird'. His actual name was Manuel Francisco dos Santos.

Anyway, back on subject - I can't understand the whole shebang went this far, given they are clearly two different words! I can't wait until Olly Murs brings out a range of chocolate bars.

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J90 replied to captain_slog | 5 years ago
0 likes

captain_slog wrote:

... but seriously, why can't he just use his first name? That's what Brazilian footballers do.

And there aren't many other famous Lionels to cause confusion. I can only think of Blair and Richie off the top of my head.

 

Because everybody knows him as Messi and not Lionel?

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captain_slog | 5 years ago
1 like

Oh good. Can I be the first to make the obvious joke?

"I used to wear only Rapha, but now my kit's all Messi."

"Well you should wash it more often, then."

Tish! [Grabs coat, runs for door.]

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The_Vermonter | 5 years ago
4 likes

Good for Lionel. I was really worried he would not be able to make it on his wages at FC Barcelona.

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don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
3 likes

I have heard of both of them, but never once got confused. It has raised the awareness of the Massi name, so part of the objective achieved.

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Canyon48 | 5 years ago
2 likes

Personally, I haven't ever heard of either of them.

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Woldsman | 5 years ago
8 likes

For the life of me I can’t understand how there might be any confusion between the two. This whole sorry business has been needlessly massy. 

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Spangly Shiny | 5 years ago
6 likes

Lucky he isn't called Spacialized, he'd never have won that one.

 

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