Lehman Brothers, the symbol of the world wide financial crises. A poisoned name, but still a wanted trademark apparently.
Barclays, nowadays the owner of Lehman Brothers (of what is left) has filed an opposition against two applications of Tiger Lily Ventures. This company filed two trademarks Lehman Brothers in the US for restaurant services and beer. Barclays registered the trademark Lehman Brothers in 2013 for financial services.
What are probably the arguments Barclays? Risk of confusion? No, as the services and products differ. Freeriding on a well-known trademark? Although the name Lehman Brothers is a questionable name, the name is still famous. So, at a glance, this argument could be successful, to our opinion.
Tiger Lily Ventures stresses that the name is so toxic in the banking world, that Barclays has no interest anymore in claiming this name. On the other hand, choosing a toxic name for a restaurant is not a good idea either, isn’t?
Source: Bloomberg