The guardians of the European single currency took great pains to make it difficult to counterfeit euro notes and coins. But an issuer of traveler's checks says the symbol for the new currency is itself a copy.

The European Court of First Instance is scheduled to conduct hearings Thursday on a claim by Interpayment Services Ltd., a former unit of Thomas Cook that is now owned by Travelex, a London-based financial services company. The company has sued the European Commission, contending that the euro symbol bears too close a resemblance to a logo it uses in marketing its travelers' checks.

Though the symbol does not actually appear on the Visa-branded traveler's checks, "it's a core part of the business identity," a spokesman for the company said. The euro symbol, he added, "destroys the uniqueness of the Interpayment brand."

The European Commission responds that the case is "spurious and opportunistic," arguing that it would be impossible for the public to get confused by any similarity between the two symbols.

Robert Swift, a lawyer representing the commission, acknowledged that no trademark search had been conducted before the euro symbol was chosen. But he said European Union trademark protection law applied only to entities that do commercial business; because the commission does not do business, it cannot be a target of such claims.

"It is ludicrous that people would think the euro currency is issued by Thomas Cook or Travelex. In fact, the general public has never seen it and doesn't know what it is," he added, referring to the company's logo.

The company would not provide the International Herald Tribune with an image of the logo.

Travelex is seeking more than £25 million ($37.27 million) in damages, though it is stopping short of calling for a recall of the millions of euro notes and coins in circulation.

"That would be a bit extraordinary," the spokesman acknowledged.

Legal proceedings in the case began in July 2000 after both parties failed to reach an agreement out of court. After the hearing Thursday, a three-judge panel of the Luxembourg-based court is expected to issue a ruling, though that could take several months. After that, the decision can be appealed before the European Court of Justice.

The Travelex claim is not the first time that the euro has been the subject of claims of mistaken identity. When the design for the €5 note was made public last year, depicting a stylized bridge, residents of southern France said it bore a remarkable resemblance to the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct near the city of Nimes.

[EuroTracer's comment: In the article Euro symbol at centre of bizarre row by Andrew Osborn in The Guardian on 2001-07-27, a picture of the Travelex logo is shown next to the official euro logo (described here). In the article Brussels settles for do-it-yourself euro design by Peter Norman in the Financial Times of 2001-12-04, a story of the creation of the euro logo is told, reaching back to 1995.

A version going back into the 1960's – and maybe nearer to the "truth" – is reported by Roland Kirbach in the German weekly Die Zeit, No. 14/1999. An English language follow-up in The Guardian by Kate Connolly on 2001-12-23 is found here.]

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