Mntsnow
02-25-2005, 10:07 AM
Swiss authorities have ruled that a Geneva-based half-brother of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has the right to use the family name as a trademark.
But businessman Yeslam Bin Ladin said he had no immediate plans to bring out any goods under the name.
"I don't intend to exploit the brand Bin Ladin commercially for the time being, but registering it will prevent others from using my name to bad effect," the daily Tribune de Geneve quoted him as saying.
In July 2002 the Federal Intellectual Property Institute revoked the trademark, which it had initially granted in August 2001, just a month before al Qaeda launched suicide plane attacks on the U.S. that killed 3,000 people.
In revoking it, the Swiss authorities argued that the trademark could "morally wound" the Swiss and disrupt public order.
But an appeals body, in a decision taken last June but only just published, said public order had not been disrupted and that trademarks should be revoked only in exceptional circumstances.
Yeslam Bin Ladin has repeatedly condemned the Sept. 11 attacks and loss of life.
A dual Swiss-Saudi national who has lived in the Geneva area for two decades, he plans to market a perfume under the name "Yeslam" with the "YB" logo later this year.
Reuters
But businessman Yeslam Bin Ladin said he had no immediate plans to bring out any goods under the name.
"I don't intend to exploit the brand Bin Ladin commercially for the time being, but registering it will prevent others from using my name to bad effect," the daily Tribune de Geneve quoted him as saying.
In July 2002 the Federal Intellectual Property Institute revoked the trademark, which it had initially granted in August 2001, just a month before al Qaeda launched suicide plane attacks on the U.S. that killed 3,000 people.
In revoking it, the Swiss authorities argued that the trademark could "morally wound" the Swiss and disrupt public order.
But an appeals body, in a decision taken last June but only just published, said public order had not been disrupted and that trademarks should be revoked only in exceptional circumstances.
Yeslam Bin Ladin has repeatedly condemned the Sept. 11 attacks and loss of life.
A dual Swiss-Saudi national who has lived in the Geneva area for two decades, he plans to market a perfume under the name "Yeslam" with the "YB" logo later this year.
Reuters