No, you CAN’T trademark St Andrews!

IT is one of the most famous sporting locations in the world.

But now golf course bosses have lost a legal battle over the rights to the name St Andrews.

Operators of the famous Old Course wanted to register the Fife town’s name as a trademark for travel, accommodation and catering services.

St Andrews Links Trust already owns exclusive rights to the name in relation to goods including golf equipment, jewellery, clothing and kitchen utensils. It said it wanted to extend its ownership in order to protect the brand and to stop other companies around the world using it.

The Trust had contended the public would automatically know the difference between its use of the term St Andrews and the wider town, and there would be no confusion, but the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) disagreed.

It concluded the name of a town could not be trademarked for the services applied for.

In its ruling, the EUIPO said: ‘The applicant contends that the public will not recognise the mark applied for as reference to the geographical area of “St Andrews” but as a reference to the applicant’s golf courses.

‘[But] there is nothing to indicate that the public, when confronted with the term “St Andrews”, would associate this indication exclusively or even predominantly with the applicant. In other words, there is nothing to support the inference that the public would not perceive the mark applied for as a reference to the geographical location.’

The application was made by the commercial arm of St Andrews Links, which operates seven golf courses in the town, all of which are owned by Fife Council. In 2018, it lost a similar battle after the EU General Court rejected its bid to register the name for conferences and books.

A Trust spokesman said: ‘St Andrews Links invests in protecting its brands globally for the benefit of the Links, its partners and the many stakeholders who share in our commitment to protecting the reputation of St Andrews as the Home of Golf.’