A businessman from Manchester has dropped attempts to trademark 'Black lives Matter' and 'I can't breathe'.
The terms have become synonymous with worldwide protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis last month.
Georgios Demetriou, of Licence to Thrill Ltd, which owns the shop Ridelow on Church Street, put in a number of applications to trademark different variations of the two terms, including capital letters and exclamation marks, on June 9.
The lists of goods he applied to trademark for 'Black Lives Matter' included items of clothing.
He applied to use the trademark 'I can't breathe' for charity bracelets, clothing and fundraising for charity.
A disclaimer on the applications submitted said: "This trade Mark is to be used for charitable work and not for personal gain on the back of recent unfortunate events."
On Wednesday, the applications were withdrawn by Mr Demetriou. Mr Demetriou previously told the M anchester Evening News that he had submitted the applications to raise money for charity.
He said the profits would go to 'help people from Manchester and beyond'.
He said he did not plan to manufacture products himself using the trademarks, but that he was looking to work with 'big names' to manufacture products with the branding.
Speaking on Tuesday, he said: "I want to help people, I feel I have been put on this earth to help people.
"I won't be happy in my life unless I do that. I'm sick of people who are profiting (from the Black Lives Matter movement) going to a screen printer and putting them on Amazon, taking all the profits. If I can open people's eyes up to people making money of the back of this situation, then it's an achievement.
"All the profits would go to help people from Manchester and beyond. We would be a non profit making organisation. Hopefully we will be able to get some recognised figures to back us.
"Hopefully I can get big businesses involved or big names to produce these or manufacture these products.
"All the profits will go to the charity. It's not important that I have it (the trademark). It's the fact that the people have this trademark. It won't belong to me it will belong to the people."
He said staff at his shop had received threats since submitting the applications.
The Manchester Evening News tried to contact Mr Demetriou on Wednesday after the applications to the Intellectual Property Office were withdrawn.
A number of Black Lives Matter protests have been held across the UK following the death of George Floyd in the US.
Mr Floyd died after a police officer pressed his knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes while he was being arrested.
Mr Floyd's final words 'I can't breathe' became a slogan for the protests.
