RANGERS have won a legal battle against a street trader who wanted to stop them trademarking their “RFC” logo.
The club applied to register the letters as an official trademark for selling merchandise and to stop others cashing in on them.
However, it faced opposition from Russell Campbell, a street vendor in Glasgow who sells unofficial Rangers merchandise.
He claimed the letters “RFC” were not exclusive to the Glasgow club as they had been used by rugby football clubs for many years and said they should not be allowed a monopoly on them.
Mr Campbell also claimed he could face criminal prosecution if the club were allowed to trademark the initials which he said were not used on any official merchandise.
However, the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), which rules on trademark disputes, has found in favour of the Ibrox club.
Mr Campbell has been ordered to pay Rangers £800 towards their legal costs in the case.
IPO hearing officer Oliver Morris ruled Rangers could register the trademark as it was not being used by any rugby clubs to sell football-related goods.
He said: “The opponent filed evidence consisting of a series of photographs of scarves and similar items which, amongst other insignia, contain the letters RFC.
“The context is that these are items which have been sold by the opponent, items which are, essentially, sold on the basis of goods for sale to the supporters of Rangers Football Club in order to demonstrate their allegiance to that team.
“He states that if the applicant’s mark was granted then he, and other traders, who are using the mark, would be faced with criminal proceedings.
“The context appears to be that the opponent produces memorabilia connected with Rangers Football Club. The opponent asks for the application to be refused and costs awarded to him.
“RFC describes the club not the sport. Therefore, whilst signs such as RUGBY or RUGBY FOOTBALL would signify an allegiance to the sport, I have difficulty in accepting that RFC does likewise.
“There is no evidence of RFC being used alone in a rugby football context.
“Without a preceding name, the letters RFC alone are unlikely to be regarded as part of the formal name of a rugby football club.
“If RFC is seen as an abbreviation for Rangers Football Club then I note that the names of football clubs have been found to be distinctive as trade marks, irrespective of whether they also function as badges of allegiance for fans of the club.”
Mr Campbell first challenged the trademark application in 2013, but his case was thrown out. He then successfully appealed for the case to be looked at again and the IPO has just issued the new ruling.
Its decision means Rangers will be able to take action against any traders selling goods with the “RFC” logo on them without permission.
In a submission to the hearing, Mr Campbell said: “The letters ‘RFC’ are used as an abbreviation to describe the services of rugby/football clubs.
“The letters have been used as an abbreviation since the late 19th century including with Langholm RFC which was founded in 1871.
“The letters are used as an abbreviation for rugby/football clubs by hundreds of clubs both professional and amateur to indicate that they are a rugby football club including without limitation Aberdeen RFC.”
However Rangers said they had been selling items bearing the letters including clothing, jewellery and footwear for many years and that they had no connection to rugby.
Last year the club regained the legal ownership of other trademarks from Sports Direct.
Logos including the club name and Ready insignia had been held by Mike Ashley’s firm as security against a £5 million emergency loan granted to the club.
Rangers declined to comment on the decision.
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