Tag: trademark law

"BioMarkt" is devoid of distinctive character according to the General Court

·trademark law· 0 Comments

Under EU law, a trade mark may not be registered if there are absolute grounds for refusal. Accordingly, a sign may not be registered as a trade mark if it consists "exclusively of signs or indications which may serve, in trade, to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, or the time of production of the goods or of the rendering of the service, or other characteristics of the goods or service" (Article 7(1)(c) of the European Union Trade Mark Regulation [Regulation (EU) 2017/1001]).

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No sound mark for a sound combination made by opening a beverage can

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A sound mark is a mark consisting exclusively of a sound or a combination of sounds. As of 2017, it is possible to represent sound marks by submitting an audio file in MP3 format to be included in the multimedia trademark register.

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Trademark contrary to public policy: No trademark protection for "Cannabis"-signs at EU level

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Under EU law, inter alia, the following signs are not to be registered as trade marks: "Trade marks which are contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality" (Article 7(1)(f) of Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009). On this basis, registration of the device trademark "CANNABIS STORE AMSTERDAM" as an EU trademark was recently refused.

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