The Welsh words ‘cariad’ and ‘hiraeth’ have been registered as trademarks much to the astonishment and outrage of Welsh speakers and lawyers.
Along with the word ‘Welsh cake’ the three words have been registered by a candle making company, Fizzy Foam.
The word ‘cariad’ means love and ‘hiraeth’ translates to a longing for home.
As a consequence of this registration other business can no longer use these terms.
A similar candle making company, Gweni has been seriously affected by this registration as the company was already selling a range of candle with the word ‘cariad’ on them.
Amanda James, the owner of Gweni and other candle-making business owners are looking to put out revocation applications on the registered terms. Amanda further laments that she will have to dispose of the entire ‘cariad’ line of candles as she does not want to go to court over the registered trademarks.
Many argue that words of the Welsh language cannot be trademarked by an individual business as the words are unique to the Welsh language, heritage, and culture; and are thus beyond the remit of the Newport Intellectual Property Office. The words of the Welsh language belong to all and cannot be owned by a particular few.
Few lawyers opine that the registration is a mistake as the IPO has previously refused to register descriptive words. It is also a notable fact that the English word ‘love’ was rejected in a trademark application.
A spokesman from the IPO however stated that all three criteria or trademark application had been met.
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