We would like to congratulate the comedian formerly known as Joe Lycett on his current success under the name Hugo Boss. 

As a “well-known” trademark (as opposed to a “regular” trademark) he will be aware that 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 very slight change of the name was agreed upon to Boss Brewing Black and Boss Bossy.

We were in regular contact with the brewery and the communication was professional throughout as we sought a solution that was not detrimental to the brewery's business and at the same time did not infringe on our trademark rights. As you can see from the solution agreed, 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. 

We do not own the trademark for BOSS Le Cease en Desist and therefore no breach has been committed so we would not have been notified.

The allegation made that HUGO BOSS regularly sends cease and desist letters to charities is untrue. HUGO BOSS has never opposed filings of trademarks by registered charities.