To get the right to a name, a character in a film, as a trademark, how common is it? Not common, but it does occur, according to Gustav Melander, a lawyer at the Patent and Registration Office, PRV.
Often, it's about the name of the character in a film coinciding with the title of the film, such as Pippi Longstocking. Then it's common to want to protect the name.
There may be a reasonable explanation for this. One often makes spin-offs on characters that appear in films or books, and then one wants to secure them by trademarking them, says Melander.
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What is required to get trademark protection?
In principle, anyone can apply to register any trademark, without prior connection to it.
PRV examines the application against a range of registration obstacles. It can be about earlier rights, that the trademark contravenes the law, or that the application was made in bad faith.
If one gets past PRV's obstacle catalog, it can become a yes.
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Why did Ulf Brunnberg get rejected by PRV?
PRV said no to Brunnberg registering "Dynamit-Harry" as a trademark.
We rejected his application because there were two earlier EU trademarks for the name Harry, which we thought were too close to "Dynamit-Harry", says Gustav Melander.
Thus, the trademark "Dynamit-Harry" is not registered at present.
Brunnberg appealed to the Patent and Market Court at Stockholm District Court, which did not agree with us that it was confusingly similar, but they have not said that the trademark can be registered, says Melander.
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What happens now?
PRV now has the opportunity to appeal to the higher instance, the Patent and Market Court of Appeal. If that does not happen, PRV will continue to handle the case.
If we then think that there are no other obstacles to rejecting the application, the trademark can be registered. However, others will then have the opportunity to object, and then it will be tried again by us, says Melander.
So, in the end, it's still PRV that decides?
Exactly, it's only us who assess whether a trademark can be registered. Our higher instances can, however, say that certain obstacles we have raised are not applicable in a case.
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Can Brunnberg stop new "Jönssonligan" films – if he gets a yes?
It's hard to answer, it falls outside the scope of what we work with. To get it tried, he needs to turn to other instances, says Melander.
On Tuesday, it became known that Brunnberg wants to register the trademark "Dynamit-Harry" – a role played by Björn Gustafsson in the original films. Brunnberg got rejected by the Patent and Registration Office last year, but appealed to Stockholm District Court.
Ulf Brunnberg played the role of Ragnar Vanheden in eight films about Jönssonligan between 1981 and 2000. In a new film, with a planned premiere on Christmas Day, Robert Gustafsson plays the role of Sickan and Jonas Karlsson Brunnberg's role as Vanheden.
Brunnberg now wants to prevent cinemas from showing the film
