Paul McCartney seeks to register name as trademark

LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) Former Beatle Paul McCartney sought on Friday to cash in on his name by registering it as a trademark for use on everything from waistcoats to vegetarian food.

In addition to vegetarian items, he is also seeking permission for the name on meat, fish, poultry and game.

The application has been made yesterday by McCartney's company, MPL Communications Ltd, and if successful will give it the exclusive right to use of the name McCartney on clothing, footwear, headgear and a variety of other goods.

The full application specifies such disparate items as articles of fancy dress, overalls, waistcoats, hosiery, dressing-gowns, bath robes, sports clothing and swimwear.

MPL Communications was set up by McCartney to handle his recordings after the break-up of the Beatles.

Anyone who objects now has three months to lodge objections with the Trademarks Registry. Then a trademark judge will decide whether the marks meet the legal criteria to be registered.

Companies and individuals apply to register names and logos as trademarks in order to identify the commercial source or origin of goods and services and set their business and its products or services apart from those of others.

Once a trademark has been granted, its owners can take action to prevent others using identical, or even similar, names and logos.

Reuters DKB GC0856