'Virgin' not exclusive to Branson

For all his marketing misfires, Sir Richard Branson is widely lauded for creating a unique brand with instant stand-out for reliable quality by using a single word: Virgin.



Doubters need only check the 2009 Coolbrands poll, which ranks Virgin Travel in the top 20, making the 'V-word' a cooler brand to Britons than Ferrari, Nike and Facebook.



But under a judgement last month, Virgin Enterprises has just handed over £1,500 in legal costs after losing the right to sole usage of the six-letter word in branding.



Patent lawyers for Sir Richard claimed that this company, its reputation and its trade marks, dating back to 1971, were being put at risk by a small South African firm.



They argued that not only does the firm, Bodtrade, run similar services to Virgin, but that it also wanted to register the phrase 'You can't be a virgin all your life, it's time.'



In spite of being "fanciful", the IPO said, as it denotes a person who has never had sex, and although it uses the V-word only once in its ten words, Virgin vetoed the phrase, saying it infringed its own mark.



Clearing Bodtrade to use it would "amount to free riding" on Virgin's reputation, and confuse consumers by suggesting an "economic connection" between the firms, the lawyers said.



Virgin also argued that a tarnished reputation, as a result of being associated with Bodtrade's provocative phrase, could have an adverse affect on its sales.



But Allan James, for the UK's Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) Registrar, disagreed, saying that, in context, the ten-word strapline would not 'free ride' on Virgin's reputation.



Any risk of tarnishing posed by the phrase was only "hypothetical" and not serious to Virgin, he said, adding that the giant "does not have the exclusive use of a word in the English language."



He also rejected that consumers would be confused into thinking that Bodtrade and Virgin were connected, partly for finding "very little similarity" between their respective marks.



The Registrar even suggested that the lawyers themselves had more in common with the phrase that they were opposing, on behalf of Virgin, than they seemed to realise.



James said: "I consider that it would be fanciful to suggest that the mark 'You can't be a virgin all your life, it's time' can be regarded as essentially a Virgin mark, and that its registration and use therefore disturbs the virtual uniqueness of the opponent's 'Virgin' mark on the UK market."



Reflecting on the case, patent experts said it represented the first time a business other than Virgin Enterprises has won a trademark including the word, apart from olive oil makers.



As a result, other companies are now free to apply to use it, given that the IPO dismissed claims that consumers expect any new use of the word to originate solely from Virgin Enterprises.



However, the setback to the group is unlikely to faze its founder and entrepreneur, assuming he still follows advice from his Mum.



She "always taught me never to look back in regret but to move on to the next thing," Sir Richard said in a recent interview cited by The Independent. "I have fun running all the Virgin businesses, so a setback is never a bad experience, just a learning curve."