Naked Error or Fashion Blunder? Condoms and Fancy Wear in the High Court

Abstract

Recently, Anselmo Reyes J in the Court of First Instance handed down two decisions on trade marks registration. In the first, Re Naked, his Lordship allowed the applicant to register the word 'Naked' as a trade mark for condoms whilst in the second, Re Alldressedup, the learned judge denied an application to register 'alldressedup' as a trade mark for jewellery, articles made from animal skins and clothing. This Comment seeks to argue that the approaches taken by Reyes J in the two cases vis-à-vis the registrability of trademarks are inconsistent with each other. It is also this author’s submission that Re Naked was correctly decided whilst the second applicant’s 'alldressedup' mark was wrongly denied registration for the class of goods relating to jewellery and articles made from animal skins and was correctly rejected for the class on clothing.