Hugo Boss responds to comedian Joe Lycett’s name change

Fashion brand Hugo Boss has responded to Joe Lycett’s name change, after the comedian legally changed his name to Hugo Boss.

Earlier this week, the comedian Joe had revealed he had legally changed his name by deed poll to Hugo Boss, in protest against the large company targeting a small brewery in Swansea.

Boss, formally Lycett, came to the defence of small business Boss Brewing company, after they were forced to to shell out nearly £10,000 defending itself in a legal battle against a clothing giant in a row over its name.

The verdict resulted in the award-winning beer company being forced to change its name, with the additional stipulation that they cannot sell clothing anymore.

A spokesperson for the fashion company said in a statement: "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.

"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."

The name change and legal battle will be explored in a new episode of the comedian's Channel 4 show, Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back, in which he “fights for the rights of the Great British consumer”.