Julian Assange to Trademark his name
June 27, 2011
Intellectual Property News and Interesting Facts
Image source: www.guardian.co.uk
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wants to trademark both his name and the Wikileaks name. Julian Assange applied to trademark his name and Wikileaks name to the British Intellectual Property Office on the 14th of February 2011.
Julian Assange is an Australian Publisher, Journalist, Computer Programmer, Internet Activist and the editor in chief of WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organization that publishes submissions of top secret and classified media from anonymous news leaks.
If Julian Assange will get his name and that of Wikileaks trademarked he will be able to sell products under his name. Some of the Australians that trademarked their names are: Lleyton, Ian Thorpe, and Kylie Minogue.
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2 Responses to “Julian Assange to Trademark his name”
So I won’t be able to call my children Julian Assange? or how does it work?
By Ian on Jul 18, 2011
Dear Ian,
Thank you for your question.
Firstly, the purpose of a trade mark is to indicate the origin of goods or services in the course of trade. A trade mark owner can only prevent others from using his trade mark in the course of trade.
Secondly, in South Africa, for example, the Trade Marks Act specifically provide that a trade mark will not be infringed by someone using his/her own name.
Well-known people usually protect their personal names as trade marks to prevent others from using their names for business names or products without their consent. The purpose is to protect the “attracting power” of their names.
Therefore, nothing can prevent you from calling your children Julian Assange or any other name which is registered as a trade mark.
By Salomé le Roux on Jul 20, 2011