THE controversial snack food "Nuckin Futs" is set to go ahead after no Australians lodged any official complaint with the trademarks office.

The "scandalous" brand name – a spoonerism of “f…in nuts” – attracted widespread publicity earlier this year after news.com.au revealed the trademark examiner had accepted it for the register pending a three-month “opposition period”.



Jamie White, solicitor director of law firm Pod Legal, who submitted the application on behalf of his Gold Coast client, said while he had received a number of emails personally no one had officially opposed it.



“Nobody took five minutes out of their day to actually oppose it after all the [abusive] emails we received," Mr White said. “So really do people think it’s that scandalous and really does it impact them at all?”



“People may have been shocked by the trademark but not offended enough to put a stop to it.”



Mr White is set to lodge the trademark officially today after successfully arguing his case that "Nuckin Futs" was not offensive because it was commonplace in everyday Australian language.



Until now it could have been opposed by any member of the public who wanted to send a complaint to IP Australia.



The company behind Nucking Futs is now clear to start production of the nutty snack. It has also lodged the trademark for consideration in the UK.



Other similar registered trademarks in Australia:

F…ERWARE

FAR KEW

FARKEN AWESOME



Other cases in the US and UK

FUKU: This was declined by the United States TM Office. It relates to a Japanese restaurant. It is currently under appeal.



LMFAO: This was declined by the United States TM Office as the TM Examiner was of the view that it was an acronym for “Laughing My F…ing Ass Off”. However, the applicant for LMFAO (the music band) has recently filed further applications for LMFAO as another party was successful in doing so as they advised the Examiner that it was in fact an acronym for “Laughing My Freaking Ass Off”.



KNUCKINGFACKERED: Was accepted and registered as a trademark in the UK.



I-FUK-U: This is a new application in the UK and relates to clothing and accessories. Not yet examined by the TM Examiner.



MINDF…: This is a new application in the UK. Not yet examined by the TM Examiner

