A German anti-fascist organization called Laut gegen Nazis has found an unusual weapon against online hate merchandise: trademark law. By registering neo-Nazi symbols as official EU trademarks, the group gained the legal right to block a major online shop called Druck18 from selling Nazi-themed products, according to a press release from August 2025.

How the Strategy Works

Neo-Nazi groups use coded language and symbols—abbreviations, numbers, and made-up words—to sell merchandise without openly breaking laws that ban Nazi symbols in Germany and other countries. Think of it like using a secret code to advertise banned products while staying technically within the rules.

Laut gegen Nazis flipped this around. They registered these same codes as official trademarks with the EU. When you own a trademark, you have the legal power to stop other people from using it commercially. So when Druck18 tried to sell merchandise using these symbols, the anti-fascist group could legally stop them.

To keep the trademarks valid, Laut gegen Nazis also sells their own apparel using these registered codes. This shows they are actually using the trademarks, which is required by law.

The Guardian reported in January 2024 that the group said this was "just the beginning" and planned to register more codes. The shutdown of Druck18, announced more than a year later, was the first major victory from this approach.

Why This Matters

Trademark law was created to protect brand names and logos. Using it against extremists is unconventional. In the United States, a 2017 court decision struck down restrictions on offensive trademarks, and Reuters reported that hate groups quickly applied for protection on their own symbols.

In Europe, the system works differently. The EU can refuse trademarks that violate public policy or morality. But Laut gegen Nazis succeeded—probably because officials recognized their anti-fascist purpose. Whether the law would protect them if a hate group tried to challenge them in court is still an open question.

What actually stops vendors is simpler than a courtroom battle. The threat of being sued for using someone else's trademark is enough to scare away smaller merchandise sellers and make operations more expensive. Druck18 apparently decided it could not survive that pressure.

Other countries are taking different approaches. In May 2026, Australia criminalized the National Socialist Network by banning the group outright. That is a more direct method than using trademark law, but it requires specific legislation that not every country has.

There is another effect worth noticing. By selling their own merchandise with these coded symbols, Laut gegen Nazis is exposing what the codes mean to the general public. The symbols were supposed to stay hidden and disguised. Now anyone can see what they stand for. Taking away the secrecy may end up being as important as the legal victory.