Yes, Virgin Australia holds a trademark on ‘Mile High Club’
We wonder what Richard Branson had in mind when he laid claim to the catchy phrase?
By David Flynn, November 28 2022
When Bain Capital swooped on Virgin Australia following the airline’s collapse in 2020 and subsequently promised to bring back some of that unique Virgin flair, we doubt this is quite what the private equity firm had in mind.
Yet there is it, sitting in the indisputable records of government agency IP Australia: Virgin Australia holds a protected trademark for ‘Mile High Club’. It’s trademark 918446, if you must know, and you can see it for yourself right here in the IP Australia database.
But Virgin’s claim to the Mile High Club predates Bain – it stretches back to the days of Richard Branson. Of course it does.
IP Australia reveals the trademark application was first filed in July 2002, in the earliest years of Virgin Blue, and covers ‘goods and services’ in the following category:
Air travel services; transport services in this class; air transportation services, including travel agencies, tour operators, reservation services and the conveying of passengers.
Virgin’s address on the trademark record remains listed as the inner-Brisbane suburb of Bowen Hills, the original Virgin Village campus which Virgin Australia left in September 2020 in favour of more modern and more centrally-located digs at Southbank.
While today’s Virgin Australia may have no plans for the catchy phrase, you have to admit it’s simply too good to let go, which may be why the trademark was recently renewed through to July 2032...
QF
11 Jul 2014
Total posts 1004
This will be interesting Jayne??
What is the main requirement for a trademark?
Two basic requirements must be met for a mark to be eligible for trademark protection: it must be in use in commerce and it must be distinctive. The first requirement, that a mark be used in commerce, arises because trademark law is constitutionally grounded in the congressional power to regulate interstate commerce.
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