US fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has won a legal stoush with a local company over use of the famous A&F label and its moose head logo.

The A&F Singapore legal battle has ended with the ruling that MMC International was wrong to claim “first mover advantage” in registering the A&F brand and logo three years ago for a range of eyewear. It argued the US company had not specifically registered the brand for optical products and accessories

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore disagreed, ruling MMC had no right to use the brand, ordering costs, as yet unspecified, against the local company.

“A&F cannot be an acronym of the applicants since they are MMC International Services,” Ipos

principal assistant registrar Sandy Widjaja ruled, pointing out that as the official A&F store had opened on Orchard Rd back in 2011, MMC was well aware of the company’s existence and existing use of the trademark.

She concluded that MMC could not explain why it used the A&F and moose head, leading Ipos to “the irresistible conclusion that the application mark was slavishly copied… by a ‘cut and paste’ job”.

Widjaja said granting MMC use of the branding might affect A&F if it wanted to sell eyewear products in the future.

And allowing MMC to use the branding might lead to misrepresentation that the two companies are somehow linked.