Apparently, a number of major jurisdictions' trade mark
filings have been up this year. This is, of course,
counter-intuitive, given that so many business-related figures are
down.
There are certainly reports that suggest that the pandemic has
sparked a wave of trade mark filings, particularly in the USA. Many
of these trade marks make use of the words COVID or Corona, and it
has been reported that the owners of the Corona beer trade mark
have had their hands full with trade mark issues. Many of the new
filings cover goods or services that are in some way linked to the
pandemic (such as protective equipment), and these of course make
perfect sense. In South Africa, we have seen applications such as
CORONA, CORONA CARE, CORONA GUARD, COVID, COVID 19, COVID-19 DEPOT
and COVID-KEY SA.
