Anonymous Threatens French Website Who Trademarked Their Logo

by Hermione Avila - Paralegal

03 August 2012, filed under Trademarks

You may have recently heard about the group Anonymous who have been hacking into some rather high powered company websites such as the Department of Justice and Sony amongst others. Anonymous have a logo that includes a headless suited man and are often filmed wearing Guy Fawkes masks, as seen in the film V for Vendetta starring Natalie Portman.

Early Flicker (also known as EFlicker), a French company, has registered the logo (the headless suited man) and are now selling merchandise such as t-shirts. This is clearly an example of a company cashing in on the notoriety of someone else’s brand. Despite the fact that the French company have been very foolish to do this to people with the hacking capabilities of the “Anonymous” group. Since, Anonymous have launched “Operation AnonTrademark”, their Youtube video has called for the removal of the trademark by French Trademark Office INPI, promising that E-Flicker’s actions will not go unpunished. Considering Anonymous’ track record, this is a threat that E-Flicker should take very seriously.

If you have a company logo ensure that no one else cashes in on your brand by ensuring that you apply for a trademark. Applying for a trademark is a fairly simple process. Whilst the trademark in itself will not prevent someone else from using your logo, it will certainly act as a deterrent. If anyone is foolish enough to then go ahead and use your logo, you will have recourse through the courts for trademark infringement against that company. For more information on Trademarks visit the Trademarks section of our site.

Whilst legally there is nothing Anonymous can do to E-Flicker, it is highly unlikely that the vigilante group will want to take a reasonable legal action and therefore E-Flicker’s website could now be in danger. If you run a website and need any advice on how to run it (correctly) then visit the Ecommerce section of our website.