The eyewear retailer Specsavers has had its application to trademark the word ‘should’ve’ approved by the UK Intellectual Property Office.
Rival retailers have until the 12 October to raise objections to the trademark claim, after which they will not be able to use the word ‘should’ve’ in any of their marketing materials.
Specsavers, which has 1,750 store across 10 countries with an annual turnover of £2bn in 2014 to 2015, filed its application to copyright the word from its advertising tagline last month.
The Intellectual Property Office upheld the application on the grounds that a business was entitled to trademark a common word or phrases when it was linked to a company through “use or association”.
The retailer’s ‘should’ve gone to Specsavers’ advertising catchphrase was first introduced in 2003 and has since become eponymous with the business.
The latest advert to include the catchphrase features John Cleese reprising his role as Basil Fawlty and mistakenly hit a police car.
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