English 
Italiano You have to use your trademark if you do not want to run the risk of losing your rights.
However, not all methods of use are equal: it is necessary to distinguish between actual use of a trademark (which avoids its loss) and symbolic use, not useful for the purposes of maintaning trademark rights.
In a recent decision (R 1909/2024-2, 26 March 2025)) the Board of Appeal takes stock of the applicable law and decisions issued in this matter, helping us to understand when a trademark is considered to be actually used.
Article 58, paragraph 1, letter a) of the EU Trade Mark Regulation provides that:
“The rights of the proprietor of the EU trade mark shall be declared to be revoked on application to the application to the Office or on the basis of a counterclaim in infringement proceedings if, within a continuous period of five years, the trade mark has not been put to genuine use in the Union in connection with the goods or services in respect of which it is registered, and there are no proper reason for non-use”.
In order to be considered effective use, the trade mark must
“be used in accordance with its essential function, which is to guarantee the identity of the origin of the goods or services for which it is registered, in order to create or preserve an outlet for those goods or services; genuine use does not include token use for the sole purpose of preserving the rights conferred by the mark. When assessing whether use of the trade mark is genuine, regard must be had to all the facts and circumstances relevant to establishing whether the commercial exploitation of the mark is real, particularly whether such use is viewed as warranted in the economic sector concerned to maintain or create a share in the market for the goods or services protected by the mark, the nature of those goods or services, the characteristics of the market and the scale and frequency of use of the mark”. (C-40/01, 11.03.2003, § 43).
The Board of Appeal also specifies that, in order to be considered actual use, the trade mark must be used publicly and externally. It can be seen in this regard C-40/01, § 37, according to which
“genuine use of the mark entails use of the mark on the market for the goods or services protected by that mark and not just internal use by the undertaking concerned”.
With regard to the extent of the use,
“account must be taken, in particular, of the commercial volume of all the acts of the use on the one hand and the duration of the period in which those acts of use occurred, and the frequency of those acts, on the other”. (T-334/01, 08.07.2004, § 35).
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