Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Imola, 2020

Court rejects Hamilton’s bid to stop watch maker using his surname

2020 F1 season

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A European court has told Lewis Hamilton a 100-year-old watchmaker may continue using his surname.

Hamilton’s company 44IP appealed to the European Union Intellectual Property Office over the use of the name by Hamilton International. The watch-making company was founded in Pennsylvania in 1892, 93 years before the Mercedes driver was born, and registered the term ‘Hamilton’ in 2014 for a range of goods.

The court noted 44IP, “a company holding the intellectual property rights relating to the racing driver Lewis Hamilton”, brought a case in 2017 challenging the scope of the registration and arguing fair competition had been impeded. This was rejected, and 44IP appealed against the decision in February.

The Fourth Board of Appeal ruled against 44IP following their latest attempt to stop the watchmaker using the name, stating its case was “not well-founded”. It noted the EUTM proprietor [Hamilton International] “has demonstrated a legitimate interest in the registration of the contested mark and its intention to register the contested sign falls within a normal commercial strategy on how to protect the intellectual property rights of the designation ‘Hamilton’.”

“The argument relating to the IP rights of the racing driver ‘Lewis Hamilton’ fails,” it continued. “The contested mark consists solely of one word, ‘Hamilton’, and not ‘Lewis Hamilton’”, which it noted “is a rather common surname in English-speaking countries.”

“There is no ‘natural right’ for a person to have his or her own name registered as a trade mark when that would infringe third parties’ rights,” it added.

“Even the cancellation applicant explicitly accepted that the contested mark ‘Hamilton’ had been used since 1892, i.e. even before the date of birth of ‘Lewis Hamilton’ as a natural person,” noted the court in its decision.

The activities of Hamilton’s 44IP company, named after his racing number, previously drew attention in 2017 when the Paradise Papers leak revealed he had avoided paying millions of pounds in tax on a private jet which he later sold.

The seven-times world champion is in negotiations with Mercedes over extending his contract to drive for the team in the 2021 F1 season and potentially beyond.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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142 comments on “Court rejects Hamilton’s bid to stop watch maker using his surname”

  1. The 7 times artist… er… champion formerly known as Hamilton International

    1. Sign o’ the Times… Lewis better ‘watch’ out. ;)

      1. Now the grid can wear a “Surnames Matter” T-shirt and line up before the race…

  2. What’s next? Is he gonna sue the writers of the Hamilton musical?

    1. Hamilton-Beach has to stop making mixers and toasters! And Hamilton, Ontario? Forget it. Change your name to Depallier or something.

    2. I believe he thinks the musical is about him, actually ;)

      1. That’s some champagne comedy right there.

    3. Thomas Mclaren
      22nd November 2020, 6:24

      I wonder if the current Duke of Hamilton would have something to say about it all too?

  3. Not the first time I’ve heard of a ‘battle’ like this… newcomer deciding their use of the name is more important, and trying to shut down or severely damage companies that have been using it for a long time. But it is the first time I’ve heard about one of these in relation to a racing driver.

    I like to think Hamilton will discover this today, like the rest of us, and politely ask whoever runs his company to stop being so silly.

    1. @neilosjames
      Ferrari was involved in court battles with the French actress Lolo Ferrari over the use of the Ferrari name which she claimed that it was her maternal grandfather’s surname. The court rejected Ferrari’s case and let the actress use the name Ferrari. However, she went further and wanted to market a line of underwear named The Ferrari underwear and a doll named after her. I think that’s when she was blocked from doing so after a court battle with Ferrari over trademark infringements.

      1. You know a lot about women’s garments

        On topic, I’m glad comon sense prevailed

        1. Lolo Ferrari from euro trash? Who died under the weight of her oversized cans crushing her chest?

      2. Frecnh ‘actress’ 😂

    2. Why did the said company took till’ 2014 to register a trademark, and on a common English name.

      1. Hamilton started designing watches for IWC around that time so Swatch decided to seek exclusive rights to the name.

        1. Which actually reverses the direction of the story. Not that I see it making a big dent in Lewis Hamilton’s merchandising potential, which frankly interests me zero too.

      2. Why did the said company took till’ 2014 to register a trademark, and on a common English name.

        I think it was 44IP trying to register the name in 2014, depends how you read the sentence in the article. Read it that way and I guess it makes more chronological sense?

        1. And ignore me, I now have read up a bit more and found that it was the Hamilton watch company registering their trademark in Europe 3 years ago…

    3. Lewis should fire whoever is running his company 44IP. For going forward with such a stupid complaint to the Union Intellectual Property Office.

  4. Court ruling or not, I think the publicity of the appeal will ensure its widely known these watches are nothing to do with LH. Objective achieved.
    That said… these sorts of “news” stories are getting quite boring.

    1. Interesting take, maybe he wasn’t as badly advised as I’d assumed DeanR!

    2. Looking on it closely, the watchmaker clearly was sitting on the Hamilton name, doing absolutely nothing with it for over a hundred years, and then all of a sudden registered it for wide scope of goods not just watches. They were a bit opportunistic, but it is fair business. What Lewis should have done is registered his trademark first for racing related and fashion good etc. He shouldn’t have waited that long.

      1. Looking on Ebay, there are second hand (excuse the pun) watches with the Hamilton brand name on it that were made before he was born. I’m not sure what Lewis’s intention was, but it certainly raised the brand awareness for the Hamilton Watch company.

      2. Or perhaps the Hamilton brand could see that Lewis might just dilute the watch Brand

      3. If you knew anything about watches, you would know they are an EXTREMELY well known and revered watch brand. They have CONTINUALLY made watches since their inception. They have made the G.I’s watches since WW2 and have an enviable reputation. They are also part of the Swatch Group that owns brands like, Omega, Blancpain, Breguet, Glashütte Original, Tissot, Longines, Mido……..etc. They have been around much longer than that silly git, Lewis.

  5. I’m generally a fan of Hamilton, so it’s disappointing to see him add his name to the list of corporations that needlessly bully others over trademarks. It’s embarrassing when they lose, and even more embarrassing when they actually succeed.

  6. Really? It takes three years in court battle for European Union Intellectual Property Office to dismiss this stupid claim? What if 44IP decide to file charges to far smaller business using name Hamilton? The resources spend to defend it would be devastating.

    1. or “Hamilton, Ontario, Canada”.

    2. In Europe costs are not so much and the loser have to pay anyways So Lewis paid for everything.
      And it did not take 3 year that was incl the appeal (appeal takes more time)
      It was very stupid as company using names for a long time cann’t be forced to drop them as the are seatled names and being trademark by others is impossible.

      This is i think the 6 case i have seen and all the orginal companies win this cases. I found the case against Philips the most funny the gentlemen claimed that his family was much older so his little company should have the trademark but Philips company orginal founders showed their family beat him with 3 centuries. He didn’t appeal..

      1. Hamilton had to pay costs of less than a £1000.

  7. I’m going to assume that Lewis Hamilton didn’t instigate this case, or at least his advisors badly advised. I like to think he would have been smart enough to have started this himself.

    1. Agree. Probably a lawyer with too much time and too little sense thought it would be appropriate to sue this company. Has nothing to do with Lewis Hamilton personal involvement in this case.

    2. I meant to say “I’d like to think he was smart enough NOT to start this himself”

    3. I don’t think he is in the wrong. I think it is stupid to trademark a very common name. I believe you are right that Ham has little to do with it, possibly his watch sponsor asked Ham’s team to do it.

    4. @Broke84, He’s advisor’s name is Sikhakhane…

  8. Wait until he hears about the Broadway musical…

    1. Thats genuinely funny hahaha

    2. @red-andy That is actually very funny XD

    3. I read Lewis went to see the musical with Stormzy and walked out after complaining about the story line.
      Maybe just a rumour.

      1. Yes probably a rumour spread by a low IQ individual with serious social issues.

    4. Heard he`s holding a party up in Hamilton Scotland, somebody told him they named the town after him

      1. Hamilton Accies in a bit of bother too’

    5. If he did, he demanded the cast takes a knee before every show.

  9. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rowan_Hamilton

    First Hamilton I liked, should we rename his work now? What a stupid claim.

    If they did not stamp his face on the watch, then no problem.

    Lewis has some bad lawyers.

  10. This guy

  11. Hamilton watches are owned by Swatch. Lewis and 44IP are little tiny fish compared to Swatch.

  12. This is a bit of a non-story – these sort of trademark tests happen regularly in trademark law to establish the limits of branding & naming rights.

    1. Sean Kettlewood
      20th November 2020, 11:34

      This ! – This is normal practice to establish what would past a test and what wouldn’t. If you dont make challenges you also lose the right to an IP, its standard practice and somewhat of a non story. Would be surprised if he even knew about it and it was the legal team just doing there normal job.

      1. I think it’s time to abolish IP altogether, considering the pointless exercise of these legal teams ‘just doing their normal job’ around the world around the clock…

        1. Doubt you would think this way if someone was ripping your ideas off.

    2. @optimaximal indeed. It’s still funny tho! specially the way the article is worded.

      “A European court has told Lewis Hamilton a 100-year-old watchmaker may continue using his surname.

    3. @optimaximal, exactly, it is more or less inherent in how copyright laws work.

      I agree, nicely worded one @fer-no65

  13. Hamilton isn’t one of the ‘protected’ marks, so it sounds like the image protection company is just testing the limits. Hamilton currently has rights over about nine images inc, his signature, top of helmet design, TEAMLH, etc.
    Pretty standard for anyone in the public eye and usual used to stop the unscrupulous from knocking out dodgy copies of t-shirts, caps, posters, etc. Of which their are many in the marketplace in relation to Hamilton.
    Nothing worse for a fan; especially a young one, to end up with some cheap fake instead of the real thing they were expecting.

  14. He’s like a cringey parody from the Zoolander movies! LOL

  15. I have a Hamilton watch that I like a lot more than Lewis.

    1. Hey what model? I’ve had the Khaki automatic in the past. Only got an Oris Aquis titanium now which I love.

  16. Maybe that’s what Hamilton referred to on Sunday by stating that “That’s for all the kids who dream the impossible”.

  17. The watch-making company was founded in Pennsylvania in 1892, 93 years before the Mercedes driver was born.

    Shouldn’t Hamilton and his lawyers “ecucate themselves” beforehand about this fact?

  18. What a cancel culture jerk

  19. Hang on, is this article correct? This article makes it sound like Lewis Hamilton is trying to bully a company into not using his name, but this article makes it sound like Hamilton International filed for an exclusivity right on the word “Hamilton” 3 years ago, thus initiating legal action from 44IP to allow Lewis Hamilton to use the word “Hamilton” too.

    1. Think you are right. Looking into it further the watch company tried to get the European exclusive rights to the name Hamilton three years ago to stop Lewis Hamilton selling his brand of watches.

    2. Well spotted

    3. What’s the difference? Lewis wanted to use the word “Hamilton” for watches when there was already a brand of watches named “Hamilton”, they applied for exclusivity because they registered the brand before and Lewis using the name for the same purpose would affect them.
      They are not trying to stop him from selling watches, they are trying to stop him from selling watches with their brand name.

      1. What’s the difference?

        Well the article claims Lewis is trying to stop them using his name, which is a lie. That’s the difference.

        1. Or not. I presumed it was counter-litigation made on appeal after the original court case to enable (Lewis) Hamilton to continue commercializing watches under the name was rejected. So on appeal, his legal reps tried to stop Hamilton/Swatch from using the name.

        2. And that’s exactly what it is:

          “The Swiss brand which has been functioning since 1892 was dragged into the legal battle by the Formula 1 champion three years ago when the former registered ‘Hamilton’ as its trademark, giving them the exclusive right to use the name across Europe.
          Lawyers for the Mercedes star’s company 44IP tried to void the application.”

          1. Nothing about what you quoted says that Lewis is trying to stop them using the name. He just wants to be able to use Lewis Hamilton on his own watches, which they are blocking.

            This article is a complete misrepresentation of the situation.

  20. Of course this means the next time any of us get a chance to purchase a £46,300 Lewis Hamilton Big Pilot (currently all sold out) we are going to have to double check its the real thing. How annoying!

  21. is this a joke? I can’t honestly believe he would do such a naive -or let’s face it, stupid- thing. Surely he knows better? well… I don’t care in the end. I just watch the driving, and the rest is business I’m not interested in.

  22. Lewis Hamilton – pushing for equality and fairness, unless your name is Hamilton and more money could be made.

    Hypocrite.

    1. The Hamilton International company was trying to apply for exclusive rights, to block all other companies using the name in Europe. Sounds like Lewis’ company was trying to stop this monopoly situation. Not sure how hypocrite reflects this situation in any way.

  23. Hamilton fan since Turkey 2006 but… Lewis… come on…

  24. This was very low… I’ll name my son Mc’Donald and try to shut down the whole franchise. This greedy little guy… Full of talk, it’s not about money at all, and then he sues someone for using the name they had before his father was born.

    1. Actually, Hamilton the watch making company is almost completely built by Lewis’s popularity. They would gladly pay him millions and name every watch after Lewis Hamilton but he represents IWC.

      1. Is Lewis popular in the US? Hamilton watches have a reputation beyond LH here.

      2. Since they have that name longer than he does, the solution is then for Lewis to change his surname, no? Actually, perhaps they should sue him… Duke Hamilton, you’re next.

        1. I think Duke Hamilton has old money so he is safe and is centuries older then a american comapny.

      3. Actually, nope. Hamilton make very fine entry level Swiss Made watches and whatever popularity increase they might have had is nothing to do with Lewis or his fame. Swatch who own Hamilton watches also own Omega, Longines, Rado and a bunch of orders have their own marketing and placement strategies. In fact if anything it would probably damage sales of Hamilton watches because when buying a nice Swiss Watch, the last thing you want are thoughts of Justin Bieber and Hamiltons awful singing and dress sense.

  25. I thought that he was making his own watches by hand, every one of them.
    This is so confusing, having to search for information on the Internet is so difficult these days too.

  26. It all makes sense for both parties to pursue this.

    Hamilton (the watchmaker) obviously wants to ensure that their brand is protected.

    Lewis Hamilton as a brand may want to pursue watch branding opportunities. Watches and F1 have a long association. Mercedes currently has a relationship with IWC. It is not inconceivable that IWC would want to collaborate further with Lewis Hamilton on special editions of their watches. Indeed, there are special editions already, but they are very narrowly described as “designed by Lewis Hamilton” rather than an “IWC Hamilton” or similar.

    Testing it now is more cost effective than manufacturing a bunch of expensive watches only to have to destroy them. At least now there is a degree of certainty. Lewis Hamilton (the brand) wouldn’t want to find themselves in a situation where they are pursued by a watchmaker they lent his name to for damages resulting from third-party IP infringement. Now that they have tested the law, they have a degree of confidence about the limits of the usage of Lewis Hamilton’s name relating to watches.

  27. He’s the best driver of his generation (not sure about GOAT but that’s another discussion). Unfortunately, when he climbs out of the car is what sets him apart – he can be an annoying, classless, moaning clown. I don’t even think this is what the “real” Lewis Hamilton is like, he always seems quite quiet and reserved. No, this is the “look at all my celeb friends” Lewis Hamilton.

    That said, I suspect this conflict was wholly brought about by whomever is responsible for his commercial rights.

    1. Did anyone know Hamilton the watch making company before 2007. I live in the same block as the company figuratively speaking and I didn’t know them… Lewis Hamilton is the reason this company sells any watches whatsoever.

      1. If Lewis is the reason they sell watches… What have they been doing for the past 70 years?

      2. Yes, I’ve known of the Hamilton watch company for a looong time. They were always a bit on the pricey side, but not as expensive as they are now.

      3. Sorry Man. They are a well respected and well known watch company. I didn’t even know who Lewis Hamilton was before this story. They have been featured in movies such as Interstellar. Almost nobody buys Hamilton watches because of him. If he was the reason they sold watches then they wouldn’t have beem around for over 100 years. Educate yourself before posting.

        1. I’ve retracted my statement about the brand but I also have to say that Hamilton, the watchmaker, is probably one of the worst companies in terms of marketing and the fact that they are part of the Swatch Group is even harder to fathom. That being said, the American Classic Intra Matic is really special. I personally think it looks better than the original Daytona. What a watch!

    2. Its ok we saw that you got your knife out anyway

  28. An interesting case for sure… Hamilton watches have become very popular over the past decade and I don’t believe it’s because they are fantastic watches. A lot of their business,if not all of it, is generated by Lewis Hamilton. A frivolous case from a legal standpoint maybe but they are probably grateful even so since Lewis is in a way putting food on their table. I wonder if he had to sue them as he represents IWC through Mercedes.

    At least now we know that there is no affiliation. I’m sure Oris is wondering why Schumacher wasn’t named Oris:).

    1. What a biased comment. I proudly own a Hamilton watch since 2000. The other way works too… None of the LH Hilfiger designs are great and a waste of money. Hamilton watches are well-known in the US for decades and LH had nothing to do…

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        21st November 2020, 0:04

        @f180 It appears they do have quite a following and a rich history. I do find it interesting that I’ve never seen one being sold in the US and like I said I live on the same block as the company. Had I known about them and the fact that they were American and local I might have been interested. I definitely have seen them pop up more over the past decade although I don’t recall seeing them at a store. I thought they were British and In all honesty assumed there might have been an affiliation between them and Lewis. Most folks in Europe know that Rolex is Swiss,right? Casio and Seiko are Japanese. Btw, I know nothing about the quality of their watches, the comment was based on the fact that I didn’t know much about their products and it was ignorant. My apologies to any owner – I love watches and I definitely wouldn’t
        want anyone speaking foul about the company, except if that person is me.

        1. I’m pretty sure there are 100 brands that are Swiss Made from all over the world you haven’t heard of that are actually very good. Even fully Chinese made watches can compete with some Swiss Made watches now and I’m certain there are lots of them you haven’t heard of.
          Hamilton watches have great provenance, are in the window of a lot of respected watch stores. Through the years while under the Swatch ownership they have been in and around the same market value as Tissot, Certina and Longines. Never really above Longines and never really below Tossot. They have their own place and that is controlled by Swatch. For example Omega is one of Swatches luxury brands and keeps it’s place as a solid luxury brand. As the prices increase then a new model from one of the lower tiers will take the place of a watch which becomes out of reach for most buyers. An example being when the Seamaster had a price increase they introduced the less expensive Longines HydroConquest to fill that part of the market.
          It’s all very controlled and not as simple as B list celeb with the same surname getting a bit of success influencing their structure.

          Personally I bought an Oris because Oris are independent of the Swatch group and are free to make awesome watches that don’t need to fit in any controlled structure like that. But I’ve had many Swatch owned brand of watches.

      2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        21st November 2020, 6:52

        @f180 I actually stand extremely corrected – I just checked out the American Classic Intra matic. The Automatic Chrono is one of the finest watches I’ve seen.

  29. Slightly inflammatory remark used by the watchmaker / their lawyers but sensibly left out by Keith is they called him a ‘celebrity’ in their PR release. I’ve only been aware of Hamilton watches in the last decade, might be I just hadn’t noticed them before Lewis but it all feels a bit low rent and beneath what a WDC should be doing. Lewis is a class act, lawyers on the other hand…

  30. Apparently the 10 US dollar note will have to change design because it is said to infringe Lewis’s commercial rights over his last name !!!

  31. Who said that Switzerland is neutral? This actually might be a case of Swiss Watch (Swatch) wars more than anything.

    A quick search uncovered that Hamilton (the watch maker, not the race) has been owned since 2003 by the Swatch Group which also owns Blancpain, Breguet, Glashütte Original, Harry Winston, Omega, Longines, Tissot, Hamilton and Rado.

    Mercedes is sponsored by IWC and they are part of the Swiss Richemont Group which owns Cartier, Mont Black, IWC, Baume & Mercier, Piaget etc. Incidentally it is larger than the Swatch Group in terms of revenue and income – almost twice as large it appeareth.

    This is probably just Richemont squabbling with Swatch over a golf match someone lost…

    1. Yeah, that seems like a logical background on the whole thing.

    2. Please stop commenting on something you know nothing about and think you can comment after a quick internet search. You’re missing vital information being that Swatch owns more than just watch brands, it owns movement manufacturer ETA SA and Nivarox FAR a very specific movement part manufacturer. Swatch have an absolute monopoly in the watch industry. So much so that when they wanted to stop supplying movements to outside brands, they were told not to after an investigation that concluded too many businesses would fold if they stopped supplying them.

      1. Swatch teamed up with Mercedes to produce the Smart car over 20 years ago.

      2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        21st November 2020, 4:35

        I wonder if that’s one of the reasons why Oris created their own movement, the Calibre 400. Which Oris do you own?

        Speaking of Swatch, I could not resist the 2Q James Bond edition:-) Surprisingly nice watch, it’s not every day that someone makes a watch like that – it’s relatively affordable and is tied to the James Bond brand with a clever package that would make even Sean Connery smile.

        https://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com/news/swatch-releases-q-swatch-watch-%C2%B2q-blue-edition

          1. Gorgeous watch! I love the Source of Life and Clean Ocean. I just couldn’t find them anywhere. My wife has the regular Oris Aquis for ladies with the silicon band – she also bought the metal strap.

            The Oris Aquis is probably the watch of the decade. Have you seen the Hamilton American Classic Intra Matic? Stunner.

  32. Well maybe Lewis will cha ge his name for the same reason Muhammad Ali did? Going far enough back the Hamilton name is probably that of the family that owned his ancestors.

    1. Correct. The name Hamilton Watch Company “was named after James Hamilton, son of Andrew Hamilton, a Scottish born attorney who laid out and founded Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and was the original owner of the Lancaster site on which the factory was situated.”

  33. According to a bunch of Hamilton fans here it sounds like I should start a company and wait around 100 years for a great racing driver to come along and make my brand famous!

    “No one ever heard of them until Lewis came around…”
    “Their popularity is all because of Lewis…”
    “A lot of their business, if not all of it, is generated by Lewis…”

    Lewis, who partners with and endorses watch brand IWC, generates “all” of the business for a competitor brand simply because they happened to have picked the name “Hamilton International” in 1892.

    We’d all be so lucky to have a brand that could have no one know about it and zero popularity, yet still survive for over 100 years…

    And while it may be true that Lewis’ success and popularity has led to increased sales of Hamilton International watches, it kind of boggles my mind that if that were truly the case, why are people NOT buying the watches that Lewis actually endorses and collaborates on? Surely even owning a low-end IWC watch would be better than buying a competitor watch he has nothing to do with.

    1. Thank youuu… I was laughing at that too…. How did they manage to survive for 75-80 years until Lewis became famous🤣..

    2. I should note that I’m not criticizing Lewis here. He likely had very little knowledge of this happening.

      I’m poking fun at a fanbase that by their own logic, the influence of said star is so grand it sways markets, but at the same time so poor that people buy the wrong brand.

      Surely IWC is sitting around trying to figure out what is going on that so many Hamilton fans are buying a competitor watch despite paying Merc (and indirectly Lewis) large sums in sponsorship.

      1. I’m poking fun at a fanbase

        It’s one guy

  34. Wow. Lost respect for the man. This is just greed and wielding power for the sake of it. Very petty and beneath someone of his standing in the world.

    1. Can’t lose what you never had.

  35. Good on Lewis for trying, but yeah, that was never going to work out with a common last name like his.

    I don’t think he needs to feel bad for trying though, as some are implying, he’s just trying to make bank off of his well-known name and that’s fair play to him. He can just add the 44 to his brand and be “44 Hamilton Fashion” or something. Make some cool designs with the 44 and a decade from now the cool hip kids will where the “44” and not even give a hoot that the guy behind it all drove F1.

  36. If I need to know the time I just check my phone to be honest (sorry my…….. ‘Hamilton’).

    Deal with that lawyers!

  37. Shows the arrogance of Hamilton (the hip hop driver not the watch) to even try this when the watch predates him by untold decades.

    1. This started because Swatch, worth £7 billion, objected to Lewis Hamilton wanting to trademark the name ‘Lewis Hamilton’. As far as I know Swatch have never produced a ‘Lewis Hamilton’. The hearing was told 44IP attempted to trademark ‘Lewis Hamilton’ and the watch company opposed to the move. Probably why the ruling relates just to ‘Hamilton’ and not to ‘Lewis Hamilton’.

      But I can see why some here think the all powerful Lewis Hamilton is bullying a £7 billion company just because they don’t want him to use his own name on his own merchandising. The arrogance of the man.

  38. Alexander Stefanov
    20th November 2020, 17:13

    This is why people don’t like him, and his prayers (religion is not cool in Europe). What a tosser.

  39. Shows your ignorance more than anything. This was the outcome of a case brought by Hamilton watches against IWC, a brand Lewis Hamilton endorses. A little bit of research goes a long way.

  40. Feels a bit like this was written to court controversy, clicks and comments rather than present reality. Not something I’d usually associate with this website.

  41. The red chair in the picture makes me suspicious.
    Was it taken in Maranello?

  42. Disingenuous headline again, what’s happening to this site lately? You can see from the comments above the reactions as it makes it seem that Hamilton is trying to stop the watch using the name, that’s not the case at all.

    “44IP, named after the Mercedes driver’s race number is attempting to trademark the name ‘Lewis Hamilton’ for a number of goods including watches, smartwatches and jewellery and Hamilton International are opposing the move.”

    Bit disappointing.

    1. They’re just beefing with eachother, you know…

    2. @john-h Where did you get that quote? Seems to me Hamilton International has been using the name Hamilton for over a century and then in 2014 they applied and succeeded in registering it for other products they do. Three years later in 2017 LH is trying to claim IP on a common surname that HI has already been using. So he’s been declined a couple of times because he can’t legally ‘lock in’ his last name as his own property. And HI beat him to the rights to use it anyway, presumably not claiming intellectual property though. If HI are trying to block LH from trademarking his full name, as per your quote, I’m assuming that’s only because he is trying to put his name on the same products HI is making under the Hamilton name. I assume if LH wanted to attach ‘Lewis Hamilton’ to different products that HI doesn’t do, HI wouldn’t have an issue.

  43. Lando Norris sues Disney for using his name on capes and action figures? Jenson sues chocolate Buttons? Toto sues Toto, (the AOR legends)?

  44. Neil and Christine had better get their act together, and pronto.

  45. What would Alexander Think?

  46. That’s the height of arrogance, Lewis Hamilton your a joke….Go Verstappen

  47. “There is no ‘natural right’ for a person to have his or her own name registered as a trade mark when that would infringe third parties’ rights,”

    Indeed, to us mere mortals that is.

  48. Good that the court ruled against Hamilton

  49. One good thing that came out of this was lewis had to pay the taxes for his court case , i think now lewis is too woke telling us not to do this or that while doing it himself ,i used to like lewis but now find him a pompose idiot.

  50. Wow! My doubts are now dispelled. He’s actually really that stupid and ignorant as I thought he always was :}

  51. It is a bit similar to buying a house next to Monza and then lobbying to get them to stop motor racing because of noise. Thnakfully the Italian courts put that one to bed with something like “it has been there longer than your house and you knew it existed before you bought the house”

    1. Read up a bit more and it was in fact the Hamilton Watch company registering the name 3 years ago in Europe that started all this off

  52. I wouldn’t care about this if I was him.

  53. When you’re a seven times champ you can do anything I guess…well maybe not. Hamilton watches has been around for a long while now. Swatch watch company owns it now although the company started in 1892 in Lancaster Pennsylvania. Whoever the Lawyer’s were for Lewis were, they let him down badly on this. It makes him look like a pompous fool. He needs to concentrate on racing and not trying to make his name unusable by others with the same one.

    1. I have never heard of Hamilton watches. I only have a watch to tell the time. But it seems to me that Lewis Hamilton bringing this case in the first place is due to his total arrogance. I don’t believe that his lawyers would have brought the case unless he told them to. He says he wants everyone to be treated equally but seems to think that he is more equal than everyone else. This makes him look like a hypocrite.
      Remember when Victoria Beckham tried to stop Peterborough F C from using the name POSH. She looked ridiculous and so does Lewis Hamilton.

  54. Just another case of the rich trying to get richer.

  55. People have plenty jokes, but there is a reason to file these suits even when you know you will lose. See also Ford suing FIAT over “F-150.” The legal IP regime rewards you for making open and timely attempts to prosecute your own IP.

  56. Can we ask Lewis Hamilton to stop using a known name of a 100 years old watch company to advertise himself?

  57. Kimberley Barrass
    22nd November 2020, 23:36

    How is this a story? Brand do this all the time.. Its de rigeur..???

  58. mark from toronto
    23rd November 2020, 16:23

    Now they should release their WC7 model lol.

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