The latest F#$%ing News from New Zealand on registering offensive terms as trade marks
11 Mar 2025
The New Zealand Intellectual Property Office recently allowed a New Zealand journalist, Paddy Gower, to register as a trade mark the term “This is The F#$%Ing News”, after rejecting earlier attempts to register the same phrase, but with the symbols replaced by letters that form a well-known, and to many offensive, swearword.
As reported in an article entitles on The Conversation by Alexandra Allen-Franks and Rob Batty, co-directors of the New Zealand Centre for Intellectual Property Law at the University of Auckland:
“IPONZ’s current guidance says a ‘distinction should be drawn between marks that are offensive and marks that would be considered by some to be in poor taste’. Offensive trademarks are said to be those that would create ‘justifiable censure or outrage’.
The debate about what constitutes offensive language in trade mark registrations is a global one. But, as Allen-Franks and Batty point out, “the standards of offensiveness can and do change.”
A 2020 article by lawyer Alison Cole, then of law firm Murgitroyd, now with Taylor Wessing, titled 'Cannabis, BLM and FCUK — dealing with moral objections to UK trade marks' explains the situation regarding trade marks in the UK:
“Section 3(3)(a) of the UK Trade Marks Act 1994 (the Act) provides that “a trade mark shall not be registered if it is contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality”. This Section isn’t often used to object to trade mark registrations — but when it is, the scandalous nature of the trade marks involved often means it’s headline-catching.”
Cole adds:
“When an ‘edgy’ mark is filed, the barometer of what is considered an ‘acceptable trade mark’ is scrutinised according to current norms. Such cases provide a rare and important opportunity to re-evaluate what is and isn’t considered ‘offensive’.”
Fcuk fashion?
Perhaps one of the best-known examples of this from the UK is the attempts to trade mark the word FCUK, which stands for French Connection UK. French Connection Ltd adopted the acronym FCUK on the advice of ad industry giant Trevor Beattie and used it for a provocative campaign, ‘fcuk fashion’, launched in 1997.
While the UK IPO allowed the registration of FCUK as a trade mark in 1997, the same mark, used in advertising, triggered outrage and multiple complaints to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, which banned many, but not all, of the ads using the term for nearly 20 years and censured the company for bringing advertising into disrepute.
“French Connection has won its battle to keep using its controversial advertising slogan FCUK on its watches and jewellery.
Dennis Woodman challenged the use of the FCUK brand on watches and jewellery, saying it was contrary to ‘generally accepted principles of morality’ but French Connection today claimed victory in the case.
Mr Woodman said the trademark, which has been used by the retailer on clothes and adverts for seven years, breached the 1994 Trade Marks Act.
But lawyers for French Connection argued FCUK was simply a lighthearted play on words and cited the trademark Dick & Fanny, which was deemed acceptable.“
On a final note, a search of the UK IPO’s trademark database throws up a number of attempts to register a range of expletives, most of which have been rejected. However, one 2021 registration – for Internet based dating, matchmaking and personal introduction services –‘CKUF CKUFING’ was allowed.
The New Zealand Intellectual Property Office recently allowed a New Zealand journalist, Paddy Gower, to register as a trade mark the term “This is The F#$%Ing News”, after rejecting earlier attempts to register the same phrase, but with the symbols replaced by letters that form a well-known, and to many offensive, swearword.
As reported in an article entitles on The Conversation by Alexandra Allen-Franks and Rob Batty, co-directors of the New Zealand Centre for Intellectual Property Law at the University of Auckland:
“IPONZ’s current guidance says a ‘distinction should be drawn between marks that are offensive and marks that would be considered by some to be in poor taste’. Offensive trademarks are said to be those that would create ‘justifiable censure or outrage’.
The debate about what constitutes offensive language in trade mark registrations is a global one. But, as Allen-Franks and Batty point out, “the standards of offensiveness can and do change.”
A 2020 article by lawyer Alison Cole, then of law firm Murgitroyd, now with Taylor Wessing, titled 'Cannabis, BLM and FCUK — dealing with moral objections to UK trade marks' explains the situation regarding trade marks in the UK:
“Section 3(3)(a) of the UK Trade Marks Act 1994 (the Act) provides that “a trade mark shall not be registered if it is contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality”. This Section isn’t often used to object to trade mark registrations — but when it is, the scandalous nature of the trade marks involved often means it’s headline-catching.”
Cole adds:
“When an ‘edgy’ mark is filed, the barometer of what is considered an ‘acceptable trade mark’ is scrutinised according to current norms. Such cases provide a rare and important opportunity to re-evaluate what is and isn’t considered ‘offensive’.”
Fcuk fashion?
Perhaps one of the best-known examples of this from the UK is the attempts to trade mark the word FCUK, which stands for French Connection UK. French Connection Ltd adopted the acronym FCUK on the advice of ad industry giant Trevor Beattie and used it for a provocative campaign, ‘fcuk fashion’, launched in 1997.
While the UK IPO allowed the registration of FCUK as a trade mark in 1997, the same mark, used in advertising, triggered outrage and multiple complaints to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, which banned many, but not all, of the ads using the term for nearly 20 years and censured the company for bringing advertising into disrepute.
“French Connection has won its battle to keep using its controversial advertising slogan FCUK on its watches and jewellery.
Dennis Woodman challenged the use of the FCUK brand on watches and jewellery, saying it was contrary to ‘generally accepted principles of morality’ but French Connection today claimed victory in the case.
Mr Woodman said the trademark, which has been used by the retailer on clothes and adverts for seven years, breached the 1994 Trade Marks Act.
But lawyers for French Connection argued FCUK was simply a lighthearted play on words and cited the trademark Dick & Fanny, which was deemed acceptable.“
On a final note, a search of the UK IPO’s trademark database throws up a number of attempts to register a range of expletives, most of which have been rejected. However, one 2021 registration – for Internet based dating, matchmaking and personal introduction services –‘CKUF CKUFING’ was allowed.
The New Zealand Intellectual Property Office recently allowed a New Zealand journalist, Paddy Gower, to register as a trade mark the term “This is The F#$%Ing News”, after rejecting earlier attempts to register the same phrase, but with the symbols replaced by letters that form a well-known, and to many offensive, swearword.
As reported in an article entitles on The Conversation by Alexandra Allen-Franks and Rob Batty, co-directors of the New Zealand Centre for Intellectual Property Law at the University of Auckland:
“IPONZ’s current guidance says a ‘distinction should be drawn between marks that are offensive and marks that would be considered by some to be in poor taste’. Offensive trademarks are said to be those that would create ‘justifiable censure or outrage’.
The debate about what constitutes offensive language in trade mark registrations is a global one. But, as Allen-Franks and Batty point out, “the standards of offensiveness can and do change.”
A 2020 article by lawyer Alison Cole, then of law firm Murgitroyd, now with Taylor Wessing, titled 'Cannabis, BLM and FCUK — dealing with moral objections to UK trade marks' explains the situation regarding trade marks in the UK:
“Section 3(3)(a) of the UK Trade Marks Act 1994 (the Act) provides that “a trade mark shall not be registered if it is contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality”. This Section isn’t often used to object to trade mark registrations — but when it is, the scandalous nature of the trade marks involved often means it’s headline-catching.”
Cole adds:
“When an ‘edgy’ mark is filed, the barometer of what is considered an ‘acceptable trade mark’ is scrutinised according to current norms. Such cases provide a rare and important opportunity to re-evaluate what is and isn’t considered ‘offensive’.”
Fcuk fashion?
Perhaps one of the best-known examples of this from the UK is the attempts to trade mark the word FCUK, which stands for French Connection UK. French Connection Ltd adopted the acronym FCUK on the advice of ad industry giant Trevor Beattie and used it for a provocative campaign, ‘fcuk fashion’, launched in 1997.
While the UK IPO allowed the registration of FCUK as a trade mark in 1997, the same mark, used in advertising, triggered outrage and multiple complaints to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, which banned many, but not all, of the ads using the term for nearly 20 years and censured the company for bringing advertising into disrepute.
“French Connection has won its battle to keep using its controversial advertising slogan FCUK on its watches and jewellery.
Dennis Woodman challenged the use of the FCUK brand on watches and jewellery, saying it was contrary to ‘generally accepted principles of morality’ but French Connection today claimed victory in the case.
Mr Woodman said the trademark, which has been used by the retailer on clothes and adverts for seven years, breached the 1994 Trade Marks Act.
But lawyers for French Connection argued FCUK was simply a lighthearted play on words and cited the trademark Dick & Fanny, which was deemed acceptable.“
On a final note, a search of the UK IPO’s trademark database throws up a number of attempts to register a range of expletives, most of which have been rejected. However, one 2021 registration – for Internet based dating, matchmaking and personal introduction services –‘CKUF CKUFING’ was allowed.
The New Zealand Intellectual Property Office recently allowed a New Zealand journalist, Paddy Gower, to register as a trade mark the term “This is The F#$%Ing News”, after rejecting earlier attempts to register the same phrase, but with the symbols replaced by letters that form a well-known, and to many offensive, swearword.
As reported in an article entitles on The Conversation by Alexandra Allen-Franks and Rob Batty, co-directors of the New Zealand Centre for Intellectual Property Law at the University of Auckland:
“IPONZ’s current guidance says a ‘distinction should be drawn between marks that are offensive and marks that would be considered by some to be in poor taste’. Offensive trademarks are said to be those that would create ‘justifiable censure or outrage’.
The debate about what constitutes offensive language in trade mark registrations is a global one. But, as Allen-Franks and Batty point out, “the standards of offensiveness can and do change.”
A 2020 article by lawyer Alison Cole, then of law firm Murgitroyd, now with Taylor Wessing, titled 'Cannabis, BLM and FCUK — dealing with moral objections to UK trade marks' explains the situation regarding trade marks in the UK:
“Section 3(3)(a) of the UK Trade Marks Act 1994 (the Act) provides that “a trade mark shall not be registered if it is contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality”. This Section isn’t often used to object to trade mark registrations — but when it is, the scandalous nature of the trade marks involved often means it’s headline-catching.”
Cole adds:
“When an ‘edgy’ mark is filed, the barometer of what is considered an ‘acceptable trade mark’ is scrutinised according to current norms. Such cases provide a rare and important opportunity to re-evaluate what is and isn’t considered ‘offensive’.”
Fcuk fashion?
Perhaps one of the best-known examples of this from the UK is the attempts to trade mark the word FCUK, which stands for French Connection UK. French Connection Ltd adopted the acronym FCUK on the advice of ad industry giant Trevor Beattie and used it for a provocative campaign, ‘fcuk fashion’, launched in 1997.
While the UK IPO allowed the registration of FCUK as a trade mark in 1997, the same mark, used in advertising, triggered outrage and multiple complaints to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, which banned many, but not all, of the ads using the term for nearly 20 years and censured the company for bringing advertising into disrepute.
“French Connection has won its battle to keep using its controversial advertising slogan FCUK on its watches and jewellery.
Dennis Woodman challenged the use of the FCUK brand on watches and jewellery, saying it was contrary to ‘generally accepted principles of morality’ but French Connection today claimed victory in the case.
Mr Woodman said the trademark, which has been used by the retailer on clothes and adverts for seven years, breached the 1994 Trade Marks Act.
But lawyers for French Connection argued FCUK was simply a lighthearted play on words and cited the trademark Dick & Fanny, which was deemed acceptable.“
On a final note, a search of the UK IPO’s trademark database throws up a number of attempts to register a range of expletives, most of which have been rejected. However, one 2021 registration – for Internet based dating, matchmaking and personal introduction services –‘CKUF CKUFING’ was allowed.
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Copyright © Inngot Limited 2019-2025. All rights reserved.
Inngot's online platform identifies all your intangible assets and demonstrates their value to lenders, investors, acquirers, licensees and stakeholders
Accreditations
Copyright © Inngot Limited 2019-2025. All rights reserved.
Inngot's online platform identifies all your intangible assets and demonstrates their value to lenders, investors, acquirers, licensees and stakeholders
Accreditations
Copyright © Inngot Limited 2019-2025. All rights reserved.