A hearing officer in Queensland, Australia has decided to remove the trade mark ‘Uber geeks’ for unused services from Geekmobile, following a claim from Uber Technologies.
In December 2018, technology giant Uber Technologies filed a legal claim against Australian-based Geekmobile. Uber filed on the basis of non-use, claimed that the computer support service had failed to utilise the trade mark over a three-year period ceasing November 13th 2018. Geekmobile filed a notice of opposition in January 2019, stating the trade mark ‘Uber geeks’ had been in use since June 2007 as a phrase to refer to their staff.
Hearing officer, Adrian Richards, found evidence of some use of the trade mark ‘Uber geeks’ in the relevant period for Geekmobiles services, notably across Yellow Pages advertisements, albeit referring to the usage as ‘a little thin’.
However, the trade mark was also originally registered under further classes, 41 and 42, for website hosting, games services and computer ware rental which Richards failed to identify any evidence of use under, concluding Geekmobile had never entered into these fields.
As a result, the trademark has been removed under these services whereby removal was found to indicate no harm to the company nor the public interest. The removal will be enacted next month, barring any appeals.
Geekmobile retain the right to the use of ‘Uber Geeks’ under all other registered classes.
If you have any questions regarding the above or trade marking in general please do not hesitate to contact the Trademarkroom team today.
-Ellie King, student from Southampton Solent University
