Fucking Shopping

The European Union trademarks authority has permitted a German firm to register the brand name "Fùcking Hell" for a new beer, much to the irritation of the Austrian village of Fùcking.

In English, the term "Fùcking Hell" is just an expletive used to express irritation or surprise. In German, it could refer to a light ale from Fùcking in Upper Austria, because "Hell" is a term for light ale in southern Germany and Austria.

The problem is that Fùcking has no brewery, and the town's mayor, Franz Meindl, is not aware of any plans to build one there, Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported on its Web site.

The Trade Marks and Designs Registration Office of the European Union said in a statement that it had rejected a complaint that the trade mark "Fùcking Hell" was upsetting, accusatory and derogatory.

It can be supposed that this now rejected complaint came from the USA - nobody in Europe would worry about the name.

"The word combination claimed contains no semantic indication that could refer to a certain person or group of persons. Nor does it incite a particular act. It cannot even be understood as an instruction that the reader should go to hell," the Office said in its statement.

EU Trademark Office Has No Problem with Name

"Fùcking Hell" was an "an interjection used to express a deprecation, but it does not indicate against whom the deprecation is directed," the Office added. "Nor can it be considered as reprehensible to use existing place names in a targeted manner (as a reference to the place), merely because this may have an ambiguous meaning in other languages."

That was good news for German marketing company owning the rights to the brand name, and who had referred to the town of Fùcking in their application to register it.

Tittelconsulting, the marketing agency, said in a statement that the owners will use the trademark to manufacture a variety of products including clothing and beer. "It includes the marketing of a beer among other things," Tittelconsulting said in a statement.

It is likely to heighten Fùcking's fame, which is something Meindl, the town's mayor, isn't happy about, given the trouble the name has caused it over the years. "Twelve or 13 town signs have been stolen. We've taken to fixing them with concrete, welding and rivets."

The Bavarian towns of Kissing and Petting have the same problem, as does the eastern German town of Pissen. But so far, there are no plans to name a beer after them.

What to buy: Fúcking Hell appeared on the market But unfortunately it is not available in Fúcking and surroundings so far. The producer is a German company (Waldhaus brewery in the Black Forest) and this beer is brewed according to the German Purity Law for beer (from the year 1516, being the oldest still valid law on food in the world) which does not allow anything else in a beer than water, malt, hops and yeast. So it is at least wihtout any side effects (like effects from traces of Sidenafil etc...). Btw. the fact that the website given below is Austrian might be misleading - this beer is NOT produced in Austria.

As soon as I get to know about a point of sale near Fùcking I shall provide the info.

If you want to visit the website given below just proceed as usually to overrun VT's Automatic Censor and write the proper name instead of the *** in the address line of your browser.

What to pay: The beer is noticeably overpriced, just because of its name - as I suspected from the beginning. Expect to pay about 1,20 EUR for a 0,33 liter bottle in specialized beverage markets. Addresses see at the website given below.