The European justice today rejected a request by Ukrainian border guards to register as a trademark the phrase “Russian warship, come and f@@@ you”, considering it to be a political message that is not a commercial sign.

On the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, a Russian warship, approaching the Ukrainian island of Fidonisi in the Black Sea with the intention of seizing it, ordered the small group of Ukrainian soldiers based there to surrender.

The response of the Ukrainian soldiers to the order of the Russian invaders was to go down in history and constitute a first example of the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion: “Russian warship, come and f@@@ you”. In the years that followed, the phrase became a symbol of Kiev’s resilience against Moscow.

The Ukrainian government hoped to register this trademark at the European level for a wide range of products, as well as publishing, education, leisure and sports services.

However, the European Union Intellectual Property Office responded negatively to the request and the Ukrainians took the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The Court rejected the Ukrainian government’s appeal.

The phrase in question is one “political message” that will be “associated” with “Russian aggression. (…) Therefore, it will not be perceived by the interested public as an indication of the commercial origin of the products and services to which it refers”the Court emphasized.