AVIS DE DROIT PROTECTION DES SIGNES NATIONAUX

ROYAUME-UNI
c) Jusqu'où faut-il étendre la protection des signes nationaux
(i) Protection Against Use as Trademarks
The protection of foreign national flags and notified State emblems against registration as
trade marks extends to any “imitation” of those symbols “from a heraldic point of view”;
Trade Marks Act 1994, subsec. 57(4). It has been suggested 303 that this formulation implies a
quite extensive degree of protection, because heraldic descriptions are normally expressed in
relatively short and general terms.
The protection of the flag of the United Kingdom and of the flags of its constituent
jurisdictions extends to any “mark which consists of or contains a representation of” such a
flag; Trade Marks Act 1994, subsec. 4(2). It is submitted that this formulation provides a quite
broad scope of protection.
The protection of British royalty is even broader, extending to any “words, letters or devices
likely to lead persons to think” that royal patronage or authorisation has been given to the
goods or services to which those words, letters or devices refer. This expressly includes any
“representation” of the British Crown or of any of the Royal Flags and any “representation …
or any colourable imitation” of Her Majesty or of any member of the royal family; Trade
Marks Act 1994, subsec. 4(1). As relates to the Royal Coat of Arms, protection extends to any
of its “principal armorial bearings” and to “any insignia or device so nearly resembling” them,
that there could be confusion. Trade mark applicants who wish to avoid problems may refer to
representations of the crown and the arms included in the Trade Marks Registry Work
Manual. Her Majesty has provided the Registry with a list of the persons designated as
belonging to the royal family.
The protection of Coats of Arms granted by the Sovereign (to other families) against
registration as trade marks extends to any “insignia so nearly resembling such arms as to be
likely to be mistaken for them”; Trade Marks Act 1994, subpar. 4(4)(b). It has been
suggested 304 that this formulation implies a less extensive degree of protection than that
afforded to foreign national flags and emblems, because it applies, on proper statutory
interpretation, only when members of the general public would be likely to recognise a
resemblance between the trade mark and a protected Coat of Arms.
(ii) Protection Against Use as Company or Business Names
As concerns company or business names that indicate some kind of national connection,
protection is afforded only to the exact words that are listed in the Company and Business
Names Regulations 1981. As concerns names that indicate a connection to such branch of
British government, the relevant government minister may find that any word or combination
of words could be understood in such a way as to require approval; Companies Act 1985,
subsec. 26(2) and Business Names Act 1985, subsec. 2(1).
303 By the authors of Kerly’s Law of Trade Marks and Trade Names, op. cit, p. 221, para. 8-232.
304 By the authors of Kerly’s Law of Trade Marks and Trade Names, op. cit, p. 221, para. 8-235.
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