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The biggest celebrity news story this week has certainly been the supposed Beckham family feud, following Brooklyn Beckham’s statement via Instagram that he does not wish to reconcile with his parents.
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Intellectual Property
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The biggest celebrity news story this week has certainly been
the supposed Beckham family feud, following Brooklyn Beckham’s
statement via Instagram that he does not wish to reconcile with his
parents. As part of this, Brooklyn states that he was
“repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing
away the rights to my name”.
As this BBC article rightly points out, it is not clear
exactly which rights Brooklyn is referring to but we might assume
that, given the clear value, investment, reputation and importance
of the various BECKHAM trade marks, the owners of these trade marks
are perhaps understandably keen to ensure that no-one else can
benefit from them. Various members of the Beckham family and
associated businesses hold registered trade marks featuring BECKHAM
across a wide range of goods and services, dating back as far as
2000.
In particular, in 2016, an EU trade mark was registered for
BROOKLYN BECKHAM, owned specifically by “Victoria Beckham, as
parent and guardian of Brooklyn Beckham”. One might say that
Brooklyn therefore does not own the rights to his name. To draw a
comparison with this situation, other famous examples of
individuals not owning the rights to their name include fashion
designer Karen Millen, who was prevented from using her own name
after she previously assigned all rights to a third party following
the sale of her fashion business. Similarly, Chelsea Football Club
held a trade mark for JOSE MOURINHO which meant that, upon his move
to Manchester United, that club could not use his name to sell any
club merchandise, as Chelsea still held the trade mark. Third party
ownership of your name can therefore present a minefield in terms
of trading and doing business.
Trade marks are enormously important and valuable brand assets.
Whilst they usually form only a small part of a much wider
consideration as to the value of a brand, in this case perhaps the
so-called ‘Brand Beckham’, their significance should not be
underestimated.
Brooklyn also alleged that his parents had
“repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing
away the rights to my name”, weeks before the
ceremony.
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