Conversations Around Identity, Language and Trademark Law During Pride Month
During Pride Month, conversations around identity are often framed through culture, visibility, and social change.
But sometimes, they also reach the world of intellectual property.
A recent EUIPO Grand Board of Appeal decision brought this intersection into sharp focus. The case concerned an attempt to register the Spanish expression MARICON PERDIDO as an EU trademark for entertainment services – a phrase that, while historically used as a homophobic slur, has also been reclaimed in certain contexts within the LGBTQ+ community.
The applicant argued that the term had evolved through cultural reappropriation and should no longer be viewed solely through its offensive historical meaning. The EUIPO ultimately disagreed, holding that despite changing social usage, a significant part of the Spanish public would still perceive the expression as offensive, and therefore contrary to accepted principles of morality.
What makes the case particularly interesting is that it echoes earlier U.S. trademark disputes such as DYKES ON BIKES and THE SLANTS – cases in which groups sought to reclaim historically derogatory terms through trademark registration. In the United States, those marks were ultimately permitted, largely through the lens of constitutional free speech protections.
The European approach, however, appears more cautious.
The decision highlights that trademark law does not only examine the intention behind a term, or even how it is used within a specific community, but also how it is perceived by the broader public at a given point in time.
It is a reminder that trademarks are more than commercial assets.
They can also become part of wider cultural conversations about language, identity, ownership, and social change.
