As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
Arsenal have finally earned their first win of the season, but it's not an on-pitch victory: the club has won a court case in Spain forcing the owner of a hat shop to change the name of her premises.
The Gunners have won their case against Seville resident Alicia Simon, who has now been told by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office to change the name of her hat shop 'Arsenale'.
Simon registered the name of her shop before she even opened it in 2007 despite protestations from the club, but Arsenal's lawyers have been petitioning the Spanish authorities ever since, trying to convince them that she has infringed their trademark.
The stunned shopkeeper, who admits to having no knowledge of football, pointed out that her shop does not even share the same spelling or pronunciation as the English football club, and that it is a word which carries "more connotations of culture than sport".
But despite the apparent ridiculousness of their case, Arsenal have now successfully persuaded the Spanish authorities that there was a "risk of confusion" between the monolithic English football club and the tiny hat shop.
Simon named her shop after the Italian word 'arsenale', which was the name given to the shipbuilders' yards in medieval Pisa and Venice. Her premises are in Seville's Arenal de Sevilla district, where Seville's ancient shipyards were located - hence her choice of the name.
Her shop concentrates on selling her self-designed hats, but she also sells shoes - bringing her under the umbrella of "clothes, hats and shoes" as seen by the patent and trademark office, and thus causing the infringement.
Simon has no intention of backing down, however: despite admitting that she feels in a 'David v Goliath' situation, she will not change the name of her shop and has already appealed the decision - thanks to a pair of friends who are lawyers - to a Madrid tribunal which will have the final say.
It's corporate business. Happens every day my friend!
What other club does this?
Its pathetic, embarrassing and bullying. Typical modern day Arsene FC. They cant stand upto Barcelona, Man City or anyone else who mock the club and embarrass us nearly daily, but they pay hundreds of thousands to lawyers to close down a fucking Spanish hat shop with a different name to the clubs.
What a piss take, if this what these lads spend their time at.
No coincidence its taken 4 YEARS to settle the case either. The amount of money pursuing this, more pissed down the drain.
We could have bought the flipping shop by now and employed Mr Almunia, a position I'm sure he would be alot more suitable for.
This club used to be a virtue of class, the last few years have eroded that with the buffons employed currently. Anyway I wonder what our resident lawyers on here think.
Words fail me!! As the thread title says, what a classless and arrogant thing for Arsenal FC to do. What difference does it make to them if a woman in Spain has a shop with a similar name??
I went to Venice with my wife a few years back and one of the water taxi stops there is called Arsenal - are our classless Board going to try to change that as well??
I hate - really really hate what our Club is turning into.
It's corporate business. Happens every day my friend!
"Arsenal" is a word, not a brand. An Arsenal is a storage of weaponry. The spanish for an "Arsenal" is... "Arsenal" (as it is in most languages deriving from Latin).
This smacks of burecrats employed by the club trying to justify their position.
Pirestzel wrote:Can we blame Wenger for this aswell?
Might as well try ....... with his renowned knowledge of foreign languages it was probably Wenger that tipped the rest of the Board off about the similarities!!
Shit start to the season? Get totally embarrassed by 8-2 by our one time rivals (can't really consider us rivals to them anymore ) Lose our best players and try and replace them with last minute bargain panic buys? Ah fuck it, who cares lets go sue a Spanish hat shop What a fuckin embarrassment In Singapore once I saw one of the bike taxi things they have there done out in Arsenal colours, maybe we'll send our genius legal team there to sue the guilty party
