THE WORLD’S THEIR OYSTER

Post by Jeremy and Ilanah:

The Sunday Telegraph reports that UK-based media group Emap is planning to launch a serious new daily newspaper to compete with the quality end of the market. In tabloid form, it is to be modelled on the highly respected French newspaper Le Monde. In a conscious tribute to this source of inspiration, Emap is considering calling it The World.

The IPKat wonders what the publishers of Le Monde (English translation: “The World”) would make of this. It isn’t known whether Emap has a licence to use that name and it’s quite uncertain under English law whether it would require one. In terms of passing off law, Le Monde enjoys goodwill in the UK since many copies of its newspaper are sold here daily. Le Monde’s publishers might worry that its reputation would be affected by the perception of British purchasers that The World was an English version of its own paper rather than an independent publication. A quick search of the UK trade mark register did not reveal a registration for LE MONDE in Class 16 (newspapers). Even if it had done, it is unlikely that the use of the title The World would have infringed that registration. The three criteria for establishing that trade marks are similar are those of (i) visual, (ii) aural and (iii) conceptual similarity, but there has been no case in which trade marks have been found similar on the basis of conceptual similarity alone.

More papers of the World here
World made of paper hereand here
The Beau Monde here