(Note profanity in paragraph 1 and 3 that readers may find offensive)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Ukraine’s border guard force cannot register a trademark in the European Union on its wartime insult “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” because it is a political slogan, the EU General Court said on Wednesday.
The phrase comes from early in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when Russian officers on the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva radioed Ukrainian guards stationed on tiny Snake Island and ordered them to surrender or die.
The reply came back: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!”
The phrase became a point of pride and a national slogan, featured on billboards, T-shirts, office mugs and even a postage stamp.
The court upheld a lower tribunal’s decision, saying: “The Court observed that a sign is incapable of fulfilling the essential function of a trade mark if the average consumer does not perceive, in its presence, the indication of the origin of the goods or services, but only a political message.”
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s border guard did not respond to a request for comment.
Months after Russia seized the island, it abandoned Snake Island. It called its withdrawal a “goodwill gesture,” but Ukraine disputed that, pointing to heavy losses Russia sustained trying to defend it.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; additional reporting by Anastasiia Malenko in Kyiv, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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