In 2012 the Court of First Instance of the European Union established that the "beatles" and "the beatles" brands enjoy important notoriety and a strong distinctive character; consequently, it could be quite difficult to register a Community trademark containing the word "beatles". In fact, according to the European judges, with respect to the use of the word to distinguish another product or service it would induce the public to "think immediately" to the Beatles and their products.
This decision comes after years and years of exploitation of the "beatlemania" in various fields, such as art, fashion and cuisine, often without authorization. However, it is clear that the sentence has not stopped the attempts of counterfeiting: a simple search on the web is enough, in fact, to look for many products with the 'beatles' brand.