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Hugo Boss Responds To Joe Lycett Changing His Name To Hugo Boss

Hugo Boss Responds To Joe Lycett Changing His Name To Hugo Boss

Who's THE boss?

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Fashion giant Hugo Boss has responded to the comedian formerly known as Joe Lycett, who recently changed his name by deed poll - to Hugo Boss.

If this has completely passed you by, then let's go back to the very start of this whole bizarre affair.

Lycett - as the 31-year-old was known before this stunt - decided that he'd like to change his name as a form of protest against the fashion label, which he claims has cost small businesses and other organisations significant sums of money by taking legal action against them for using similar names.

Specifically, this followed one high-profile case involving the Swansea-based brewery Boss Brewing. Hugo Boss took exception to two of the beers made by the Welsh beer company, called Boss Boss and Boss Black.

PA

While Hugo Boss they objected to the beers' names, there was no requirement for the brewery to change its name.

In response to that perceived injustice, Lycett tweeted a picture of the official confirmation of his name change, and wrote: "So @HUGOBOSS (who turnover approx $2.7 billion a year) have sent cease & desist letters to a number of small businesses & charities who use the word 'BOSS' or similar, including a small brewery in Swansea costing them thousands in legal fees and rebranding.

"It's clear that @HUGOBOSS HATES people using their name.

"Unfortunately for them this week I legally changed my name by deed poll and I am now officially known as Hugo Boss.

"All future statements from me are not from Joe Lycett but from Hugo Boss. Enjoy."

PA

In a statement responding to the story, Hugo Boss said: "We welcome the comedian formerly known as Joe Lycett as a member of the HUGO BOSS family.

"As he will know, as a 'well-known' trademark (as opposed to a 'regular' trademark) HUGO BOSS enjoys increased protection not only against trademarks for similar goods, but also for dissimilar goods across all product categories for our brands and trademarks BOSS and BOSS Black and their associated visual appearance.

"Following the application by Boss Brewing to register a trademark similar to our 'well-known' trademark, we approached them to prevent potential misunderstanding regarding the brands BOSS and BOSS Black, which were being used to market beer and items of clothing.

"Both parties worked constructively to find a solution, which allows Boss Brewing the continued use of its name and all of its products, other than two beers (BOSS BLACK and BOSS BOSS) where a slight change of the name was agreed upon."

Twitter

The statement continued: "As an open-minded company we would like to clarify that we do not oppose the free use of language in any way and we accept the generic term 'boss' and its various and frequent uses in different languages."

Lycett - which we'll still call him to avoid confusion - now claims that he will be 'launching a brand new product as Hugo Boss' on his TV show, Joe Lycett's Got Your Back.

We've not heard the last of this yet.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: TV and Film, UK Entertainment, Weird