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ARTICLE · 22 JANUARY 2013

3-D Scrabble Tile: Not A Sign Capable Of Graphical Representation

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In the High Court of England and Wales, Mr Justice Arnold has held Mattel Inc's UK Registration for its three-dimensional "Scrabble Tile" to be invalid on the basis that it was not a sign, nor was it capable of graphical representation.

United KingdomIntellectual Property
Mark Holah
Mark Holah
Caroline Bass
Caroline Bass

No triple word score for Mattel's three-dimensional scrabble tile trade mark.

J W Spear & Sons Ltd v Zynga ([2012] EWHC 3345 (Ch), November 28 2012

In the High Court of England and Wales, Mr Justice Arnold has held Mattel Inc's UK Registration for its three-dimensional "Scrabble Tile" to be invalid on the basis that it was not a sign, nor was it capable of graphical representation.

Facts

Relying on its various rights in the game SCRABBLE, Mattel (The Claimants) claimed that Zyna ("the Defendant") had infringed four of its registered trade marks, including its registration for a three-dimensional ivory-coloured tile with a number in the range of 1 to 10, together with a letter of the Roman alphabet inscribed on top, (the "Tile Mark").

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