Trademark application over Land Rover shapes fails

Land Rover trademark. Picture: PA

Bosses at Jaguar Land Rover have failed in bid to register the shapes of versions of the Land Rover Defender as trademarks.

The UK Intellectual Property Office had refused trademark applications for the shapes of the Land Rover Defender 90 and Land Rover Defender 110 after an official decided that the shapes lacked “distinctiveness”.

A judge on Monday dismissed an appeal, by Jaguar Land Rover, against those decisions after a High Court hearing.

Judge Melissa Clarke said, in a written ruling, that Jaguar Land Rover had not shown that a “hearing officer” had made a “material error” or was “clearly wrong”.

She said the hearing officer had also refused applications to register the shapes of the Series 1 and Series 2 Defender as trademarks – but Jaguar Land Rover had not appealed against those decisions.

Ineos Industries Holdings, which is producing a 4×4 called the Grenadier, had opposed Jaguar Land Rover’s trademark applications.

Nearly three years ago, the London Taxi Company lost a fight after trying to claim an exclusive right to the black cab shape.

Nestle has also lost a fight to register the shape of its four-finger KitKat chocolate bar as a trademark.