Paceville entertainment chain Hugo's has lost an appeal before a top EU court to have its registration of a logo for its burger bar accepted.

The EU General Court upheld a decision by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) that the logo for Hugo's Burger Bar - one of the many establishments under the Hugo's brand - could not register its mark because it would infringe an earlier trademark owned by H'ugo's, a German restaurant chain specialising in Italian food.

The Maltese restaurant's name...

... has been deemed to be too similar to the German one's to be trademarked.

The EUIPO had first turned down the request to register the burger bar's logo in 2017, arguing there was likelihood of confusion. The decision was appealed by Hugo's only to be turned down once again by the EUIPO's board of appeal.

The office noted that the goods covered by the signs for both establishments were "identical", both offering "meat, fish, poultry, coffee, tea" and other items.

Apart from a "high degree of phonetic similarity", the office also pointed to similarity between the logos of the two restaurants.

Hugo's then took the issue to the General Court to annul the EUIPO's decision. The appeal was rejected on Tuesday, with the court stating that where a trademark was composed of word elements as well as figurative ones, the word elements were more distinctive.

When contacted, the Hugo's group said it is exploring its options.