An EU court has ruled that Ukrainian border guards cannot trademark their war slogan “Russian warship, fuck you” because it is political.

The phrase, widely seen as a symbol of Ukraine’s fight against Russia, has been the subject of a bitter trademark battle for more than two years.

It dates back to the start of the invasion of Moscow, when Russian naval officers radioed Ukrainian guards stationed on Snake Island in the Black Sea and told them to surrender or die.

A Ukrainian soldier’s response: “Russian warship, fuck you!”, quickly became a point of pride and a national slogan.

An application was filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office on behalf of the soldier to trademark this phrase in 2022, but was repeatedly refused.

The EU General Court today upheld this decision, finding that the slogan is “incapable of fulfilling the essential function of a trademark” and is “only a political message”.