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The final communication from a Ukrainian border guard during the 2022 Snake Island campaign became a rallying cry for Ukrainians, but judges ruled it is a noncommercial slogan.
(CN) — The European Union’s second-highest court has rejected a request from the Ukrainian border service to grant trademark protection to the phrase “RUSSIAN WARSHIP, GO F**K YOURSELF,” ruling it isn’t a commercial slogan.
On the first day of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, a Russian warship called on a small contingent of Ukrainian border guards on the Black Sea’s Snake Island to surrender. A 32-year-old soldier named Roman Hrybov instead uttered the now famous phrase in a radio exchange that went viral online and has spawned merchandise from T-shirts to postage stamps.
In September, the Border Guard Service of Ukraine filed for trademark protection of the phrase with the EU’s Intellectual Property Office. The military branch wanted to use the slogan on everything from clothing to disposable napkins.
The request was rejected, with the trademark office saying the phrase was a political slogan. The Ukrainian authorities appealed but were again rebuffed by the office.
In February, the board service appealed to the General Court of the European Court of Justice that the phrase was not a political slogan but a “war cry.” Ukraine argued it was “uniquely connected to the Ukrainian response to the military aggression of the Russian Federation,” according to the decision.
The three-judge panel agreed that the phrase was a symbol of Ukraine’s fight against Russia, which made it a noncommercial slogan. The phrase “would not be perceived by the relevant public as indicating a commercial origin, but as a political message promoting support for Ukraine’s fight against the military aggression of the Russian Federation,” the judges wrote.
Initial reports said Russian military forces killed all of the soldiers on Snake Island, but later several of them were found alive. They had been taken as prisoners of war and several have since returned to Ukraine in prisoner exchanges.
Hrybov returned to a hero’s welcome in March 2022 and was awarded a medal for his service.
The recording of the radio exchange was placed online where it became a sensation. There is a popular postage stamp with the phrase for sale in Ukraine.
Ukraine has until January 2025 to appeal.
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