The Orwell Estate’s attempts to secure EU trade mark registrations for GEORGE ORWELL, 1984 and ANIMAL FARM have attracted considerable attention. Although the recent decisions of the Grand Board of Appeal of the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) are under appeal and the outcome remains uncertain, the cases have already focused attention on a broader question: when does a literary property become a brand?
A new frontier for literary brands
Copyright expiry is nothing new. What is new is that the first generation of literary works and characters that were transformed into major commercial brands is now entering the public domain.
The issue is only now coming into focus because the business of turning books, characters and stories into entertainment franchises is a relatively modern phenomenon. Many of the works that underpin these franchises were created in the first half of the 20th century, and are just beginning to lose copyright protection. Some of these works are valued not only for their cultural
