Bet365 Moves Closer to Victory in EU Trademark Battle

How much control does Bet365 get to have over the word “bet” and the number “365”?
It may seem like a trivial point to outsiders, but to gambling operators doing business in the incredibly competitive European online gambling market it’s an incredibly big deal. That’s why lawyers in the employ of the massive UK operator have spent the better part of a decade defending their company’s name in the European marketplace.
Earlier this week, Bet365 scored a small victory in that ongoing battle when the EU General Court (EGC) overturned a lower court’s ruling that “Bet” and “365” were just a little bit too generic to trademark. The previous ruling was made in 2013 after a man named Robert Hansen successfully convinced EU regulators to invalidate Bet365 as a trademark because it was so vague. Coincidentally, Hansen was looking to trademark his brand…”b365.”
The 2013 ruling overturned years of work in which Bet365’s lawyers had nearly convinced EU trademark regulators that their long-established brand name was worthy of a trademark. That battle intensified after an EU trademark examiner engaged in some deep thinking on the matter and declared the trademark invalid. In his mind, the terms “bet” and “365” could really be applied to anything that anything to do with time or gambling and simply weren’t worthy of protection.
Not surprisingly, Bet365’s legal team vigorously contested that finding and were able to have it overturned, until Hansen came along.
With this week’s ruling, Bet365 is, basically, back to where it was in 2008 and has secured the trademark for its well-known brand in the European gambling marketplace.