Trademark

Deutsche Post can't stop rivals using “Post” names

Deutsche Post AG, Europe's biggest mail carrier, lost a trademark lawsuit seeking to stop competitors from using the word “Post” in their names.

Germany's highest civil court ruled that the company's rivals may use “Post,” the German word for mail, provided they do so in combination with other words or signs. The Federal Court of Justice also said competitors can't use “Post” with a post horn or the color yellow, trademarks of Deutsche Post.

“We will accept the legal realities here and adapt our strategies,” said Dirk Klasen, a spokesman for Bonn-based Deutsche Post. “But the court also made clear it didn't give our competitors carte blanche for each and every use of the term.”

Deutsche Post sued City Post KG and Die Neue Post claiming they violated its trademark rights. Deutsche Post's trademark on the term “Post” was canceled by the German Trademark Office in 2005.

“Companies which offer mail services have a special interest to use the term to describe what they do,” the court in Karlsruhe, Germany, said in a statement on its Web site today.

In a separate case, Deutsche Post appealed the trademark office's decision. The case is pending before the Federal Court of Justice.

(Published by Bloomberg - june 5, 2008)