English 
Italiano On 14 April 2021 EUIPO published the Common Practice on so-called “New Marks”, which will entry in force within three months from the date of publication.The Common Practice provides a guidance with regard to the examination of formal requirements, grounds for refusal and/or invalidity of sound, motion, multimedia and hologram marks.
Let’s see these kinds of marks, with some examples of registered trademarks.
Sound Mark
The sound mark consists exclusively of a sound or a combination of sounds and shall be represented by submitting an audio file or the representation of the sound in musical notation.
The sound mark is not always constituted by a musical notation, but it can be composed of each kind of sound.
Is there anyone that – even though not being a cinephile – does not remember the lion roaring introducing the movies of Metro Goldwin Mayer? The animal noise is, really, also a sound mark “consisting of a lion roaring” (description of the Canadian trademark registration number TA828890).
You can find here below some examples of sound marks represented by an audio file (click on the link to hear the sound):
EU registered trademark 017944840;
EU registered trademark 017981131;
EU registered trademark 017932277;
EU registered trademark 017995026.
Examples of sound marks represented by representation of the sound in musical notation
(EU registered trademark 016960197)
(EU registered trademark 003559614)
(EU registered trademark 008697344)
Motion Marks
These signs are trademarks consisting of a movement or a change in the position of the elements or the colors of the marks and they shall be represented by submitting a video file or by a series of sequential still images showing the movement or the change of position. In this latter case it could be necessary to indicate in the description the duration, repetitions and the speed of the motion.
Examples of motion marks represented by a video file
(Click on the link to see the motion mark):
EU registered trademark 018240347
EU registered trademark 017992443
EU registered trademark 017967247
EU registered trademark 018152742
Some examples of motion marks represented by a series of sequential still images
(EU registered trademark 018063589)
(EU Registered trademark 018032681)
Multimedia Marks
It is a trademark consisting of the combination of images and sounds and it shall be represented by submitting an audiovisual file.
You can find here below examples of multimedia marks
EU registered multimedia mark 017941596
EU registered multimedia mark 018056800
EU registered multimedia mark 017451816
EU registered multimedia mark 018168983
EU registered multimedia mark 018151790
Hologram Marks
The hologram mark is a trademark consisting of element with holographic characteristics; an hologram is an image that changes its appearance when looked at from different angles.
The hologram marks shall be represented by submitting a video file or a series of graphic or photographic images containing all the views from different angles, which serve to sufficiently identify the holographic effect. In this latter case the images have to display all the views from different angles, which are necessary to sufficiently identify the holographis effect in this entirety, particularly height, width, depth and or/morphing effect of the three-dimensional image.
You can find here below examples of hologram marks represented by a video file
(click on the link to see the trademark):
EU registered hologram mark 017993401
EU registered hologram mark 017579491.
If you would like to have more information on these types of trademark, we invite you to download the full text on the EUIPO website “NEW TYPES OF MARKS: EXAMINATION OF FORMAL REQUIREMENTS AND GROUNDS FOR REFUSAL”, where you can find many exhaustive examples concerning the characteristics of these marks.
Finally, the new types can help you to protect your company in a more complete way. If you are interested in registering a sound, movement, multimedia or holographic trademark, Ms Eva Troiani will be pleased to assist you.
Did you find this article interesting? Share it!