The fashion retail group, French Connection Limited, saw its right to register its Trade Mark ‘FCUK’ upheld when an appeal to the Appointed Person was rejected on 17 May 2006.
Mr Woodman appealed a decision made on 20 December 2005 to the UK Trade Marks Registry granting French Connection Limited the right to retain the registration of their controversial trade mark "FCUK" on the basis that it was not ‘contrary to … accepted principles of morality’ under Section 3(3)(a) of the Trade Marks Act 1994.
The Appeal was on the grounds that the acronym was offensive not because, as the Hearing Officer had interpreted, that ‘through wordplay, mistake or misconstruing of the letters’ it might be seen as the swear word "f**k", but because it essentially was the swear word. It was so obviously intended to be the swear word that everyone would interpret it as such and therefore was contrary to ‘accepted principles of morality’.
