{"id":7694,"date":"2018-04-30T17:07:11","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T15:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/nuovo\/?p=7694"},"modified":"2021-02-04T14:50:19","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T13:50:19","slug":"importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/","title":{"rendered":"The importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Union trademark, like all the other trademarks, can be composed of words belonging to any language, with or without a meaning.<\/p>\n

The importance of distinctive character in European Union trademarks<\/p>\n

We suggest to pay attention to the choice of the words composing your brand and to avoid non distinctive words, even if they are not distinctive only in one of the languages spoken in the E.U. Furthermore, we suggest to exclude words which are descriptive of the products\/services distinguished by the mark.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Article 7, 1 b) of the European Union Trademark Regulation n. 2017\/1001 provides that:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe following shall not be registered: trademarks which are devoid of distinctive character\u201d and specifies, to the paragraph 2 of the same article, that \u201cparagraph 1 shall apply notwithstanding that the grounds of non-registrability obtain in only part of the Union\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is important to clarify that the European Union trademark application<\/strong><\/a> which is considered not registrable because consisting of descriptive words even for a part of the Union (for example, only for Italian consumers) is rejected for the whole European Union<\/strong>\u00a0and not only for the territory where the descriptiveness is perceived.<\/p>\n

Here below are some examples of brands which have been considered descriptive of the quality of the product identified by them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

WASH AND USE<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

OHIM (now EUIPO), with decision confirmed by the second Board of Appeal (R180\/2012-2, decision 25.4.2012) rejected EU trademark application WASH&USE<\/em> filed to distinguish in class 7 \u201cwashing machines, washing machines with drying functions incorporated; combined washing machines and dryer\u201d. The Office considered this mark devoid of distinctive character for the English-speaking consumers of the Union, who, understanding the literal meaning of \u201cWASH AND USE<\/em>\u201d, would perceive this expression as directed to inform them of the possibility of washing and then immediately using the product.<\/p>\n

ECODOOR<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The Fourth Section of the EU General Court (case T-625\/11, judgment 15 January 2013) confirmed the decision of the Community Office to reject trademark application ECODOOR<\/em> for some products, among which \u201celectrical machinery and appliances for the home and the kitchen, machinery and apparatus for preparing drinks and\/or food, pumps for serving cold drinks for combined use with apparatus for cooling drinks\u2026\u201d (class 7), \u201cvending machines, vending machined of beverages or foodstuffs\u201d (class 9), \u201c apparatus for heating, steam generating and cooking\u2026freezers\u2026drying machines for clothing\u201d (class 11).<\/p>\n

The Community Office considered that the English-speaking public would split the meaning of the brand into two components, \u201cDOOR\u201d and \u201cECO\u201d (intended as \u201cecological\u201d) and would interpret the brand as \u201cdoor whose construction and whose working are ecological\u201d. Consequently, since some products claimed by the \u201cECODOOR<\/em>\u201d may contain doors, the Community Office deemed that this mark provides information on the ecological character of the same and, for this reason, it is descriptive and non-registrable.<\/p>\n

PERL\u00c9<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Seventh Section of the EU General Court (case T-104\/11, judgment 1 February 2013) confirmed the decision of the Community Office to reject the community fraction of the international trademark PERL\u00c9 for the products \u201cwines, spirits, liqueurs, sparkling wines, alcoholic extracts\u201d in class 33. The mark was considered descriptive because, both in French and in English, the term \u201cPERL\u00c9\u201d identifies a \u201cslightly sparkling wine\u201d.<\/p>\n

In all the afore mentioned cases the trademarks were rejected because they were considered purely descriptive of the distinguished products or of a characteristic of such products<\/strong>. It is not relevant that non-English or non-French speaking citizens of the European Union do not perceive any meaning in the mark: for the non-registrability it is sufficient that the mark is descriptive even for a part of the Union<\/strong> (in the above mentioned case the marks were descriptive for French and English speaking, but the same rule is valid in all the Union, therefore also for Italian, Spanish, Polish, Greek and so on for all the languages of the Union).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why is it important that European Union trademark has a distinctive character? Because if it is composed of descriptive terms even for a part of the Union, it is rejected in the whole European Union\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,103],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-distinctive-character-of-a-trademark","category-european-union-trademark"],"yoast_head":"\nThe importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks - \u00aeRM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why is it important that European Union trademark has a distinctive character? Because if it is composed of descriptive terms even for a part of the Union, it is rejected in the whole European Union\u2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks - \u00aeRM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why is it important that European Union trademark has a distinctive character? Because if it is composed of descriptive terms even for a part of the Union, it is rejected in the whole European Union\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Registrare Marchio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/registraremarchio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-30T15:07:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-04T13:50:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/distinctive-character-in-European-Union-trademarks.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"465\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"290\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Redazione\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Redazione\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Redazione\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b7e1ee3941bcf28724d6ae2e6f5abb4\"},\"headline\":\"The importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-30T15:07:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-04T13:50:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":645,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/distinctive-character-in-European-Union-trademarks.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER OF A TRADEMARK\",\"EUROPEAN UNION TRADEMARK\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/\",\"name\":\"The importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks - \u00aeRM\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/distinctive-character-in-European-Union-trademarks.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-30T15:07:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-04T13:50:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b7e1ee3941bcf28724d6ae2e6f5abb4\"},\"description\":\"Why is it important that European Union trademark has a distinctive character? Because if it is composed of descriptive terms even for a part of the Union, it is rejected in the whole European Union\u2026\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/distinctive-character-in-European-Union-trademarks.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/distinctive-character-in-European-Union-trademarks.jpg\",\"width\":465,\"height\":290,\"caption\":\"The importance of distinctive character in European Union trademarks\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER OF A TRADEMARK\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/category\\\/distinctive-character-of-a-trademark\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Registrare Marchio\",\"description\":\"Registrazione e tutela dei marchi d'impresa\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/registrare-marchio.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b7e1ee3941bcf28724d6ae2e6f5abb4\",\"name\":\"Redazione\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e57a4f5cc51721252923d97b2c5fe4689efb4da978efdd026592872c9d41a514?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e57a4f5cc51721252923d97b2c5fe4689efb4da978efdd026592872c9d41a514?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e57a4f5cc51721252923d97b2c5fe4689efb4da978efdd026592872c9d41a514?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Redazione\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks - \u00aeRM","description":"Why is it important that European Union trademark has a distinctive character? Because if it is composed of descriptive terms even for a part of the Union, it is rejected in the whole European Union\u2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks - \u00aeRM","og_description":"Why is it important that European Union trademark has a distinctive character? Because if it is composed of descriptive terms even for a part of the Union, it is rejected in the whole European Union\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/","og_site_name":"Registrare Marchio","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/registraremarchio\/","article_published_time":"2018-04-30T15:07:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-02-04T13:50:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":465,"height":290,"url":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/distinctive-character-in-European-Union-trademarks.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Redazione","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Redazione","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/"},"author":{"name":"Redazione","@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4b7e1ee3941bcf28724d6ae2e6f5abb4"},"headline":"The importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks","datePublished":"2018-04-30T15:07:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-04T13:50:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/"},"wordCount":645,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/distinctive-character-in-European-Union-trademarks.jpg","articleSection":["DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER OF A TRADEMARK","EUROPEAN UNION TRADEMARK"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/","url":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/","name":"The importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks - \u00aeRM","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/distinctive-character-in-European-Union-trademarks.jpg","datePublished":"2018-04-30T15:07:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-04T13:50:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4b7e1ee3941bcf28724d6ae2e6f5abb4"},"description":"Why is it important that European Union trademark has a distinctive character? Because if it is composed of descriptive terms even for a part of the Union, it is rejected in the whole European Union\u2026","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/distinctive-character-in-European-Union-trademarks.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/distinctive-character-in-European-Union-trademarks.jpg","width":465,"height":290,"caption":"The importance of distinctive character in European Union trademarks"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/importance-of-distinctiveness-in-eu-trademark\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER OF A TRADEMARK","item":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/category\/distinctive-character-of-a-trademark\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The importance of distinctive character in EU trademarks"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/","name":"Registrare Marchio","description":"Registrazione e tutela dei marchi d'impresa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4b7e1ee3941bcf28724d6ae2e6f5abb4","name":"Redazione","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e57a4f5cc51721252923d97b2c5fe4689efb4da978efdd026592872c9d41a514?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e57a4f5cc51721252923d97b2c5fe4689efb4da978efdd026592872c9d41a514?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e57a4f5cc51721252923d97b2c5fe4689efb4da978efdd026592872c9d41a514?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Redazione"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7694"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12662,"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694\/revisions\/12662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/registrare-marchio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}