The village has no plans to change its name despite reactions from English-speakers, as it has been so named since 1070, after a Bavarian nobleman named Focko from the sixth century. Street signs are now theft-proof.
Village sign with a polite request for motorists to slow down (photos from AFP via Die Welt)
Outside the village limits sign
The Trade Marks and Designs Registration Office of the European Union has approved the name 'Fucking Hell' to be registered as a figurative trade mark for a new beer.
R 0538/2008-4 – Fucking Hell [Fig. mark] - The applicant sought to register a figurative trade mark for ‘clothing, footwear, headgear' in Class 25, ‘beers and aerated waters and other non-alcoholic drinks' in Class 32 and ‘alcoholic beverages (except beers)' in Class 33.Hell is a term for light ale in southern Germany and Austria.The examiner rejected the application the sign used sexuality in order to express contempt and violent anger. The village Fucking in Austria , to which the appellants had referred, had only 93 inhabitants, and no-one knew of it. Furthermore, the right of freedom of expression had to have limits in the case of upsetting, accusatory or derogatory signs
The Board held that in Christian terms, ‘hell' is the place of highest torment. It is a place of damnation. In common parlance ‘hell' is a synonym for something negative and causing torment. If the first word element stands for ‘damned', then the sign designates only that which according to popular belief happens in hell.
Under Article 7(1)(f) CTMR signs may not be registered if they are disparaging, discriminatory, blasphemous or derogatory, incite criminal offences or insurrection.
However, the word combination claimed contains no semantic indication that could refer to a certain person or group of persons. Nor does it incite a particular act. It cannot even be understood as an instruction that the reader should go to hell. The meaning assumed by the examiner is, overall, an interjection used to express a deprecation, but it does not indicate against whom the deprecation is directed. Nor can it be considered as reprehensible to use existing place names in a targeted manner (as a reference to the place), merely because this may have an ambiguous meaning in other languages.
Consequently, the Board annulled the contested decision and allowed the CTM applied for to proceed to registration.
See
- Die Welt
- Der Spiegel (Englisch)
To be offended by a word that has a different meaning in another language and another country would be culturally arrogant and self-centred. It is intent that matters.
1 comment:
A small correction: "Hell" (or more usually "Helles") means "pale" in German, and is a term used as an adjective for light-colored lager beers, not ales. Very few ale styles are brewed in Germany, and none are called "Hell".
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