No “Love” Lost Between Cartier and Singapore IP Office

Cartier, the French company recognized primarily for its fine jewelry, recently lost its claim to the word “love”.

Cartier has a trademark on the specific, stylized version of the word associated with the hugely successful “Love” collection, where thick horizontal lines cross the “O” and the “e” is lowercase. Glinting on the wrists of celebrities, social media influencers, and fashion enthusiasts around the world, the “Love bracelet,” a gold bangle first designed in 1969 and adorned with screws, has become an instantly recognizable and iconic symbol of luxury.

Recently, a court in Singapore rejected the company’s attempt to prevent MoneyMax, a chain of jewelry and second-hand pawn shops, from using the word “love” in its slogan “Love Gold” and on its jewelry.

Mark Lim Fung Chian, the office’s principal assistant registrar of trademarks stated that “Love is a word which is commonly used by jewelry traders and should not be monopolized by any trader” and “the word love [s]hould be free for traders to incorporate into their trademarks for jewelry.”

Authors: Jaclyn Tilak and Yonca Umur, 2018/2019 Articling Student-at-law