The Bottle is the Message: Only the Distinctive Survive as 3-D Community Mark
10(1) JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW AND PRACTICE 35-42 (2015).
13 Pages Posted: 18 Feb 2015 Last revised: 19 Apr 2016
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The Bottle is the Message: Only the Distinctive Survive as 3-D Community Mark
The Bottle is the Message: Only the Distinctive Survive as 3-D Community Mark
Date Written: November 6, 2014
Abstract
This article explores the distinctiveness criterion, the absolute refusal ground for the registration of three-dimensional community marks, for bottles.
The office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM), the OHIM Boards of Appeal (BoA) and the General Court (GC) insist that three-dimensional community marks are treated as any other mark in the assessment process.
However, statistics demonstrate the opposite, which has arguably led to an underutilization by business of the three-dimensional community mark. Are the criteria applied by OHIM transparent and predictable? Which pattern, if any, can be abstracted from the assessments on distinctiveness of bottles?
Keywords: community trade mark, three-dimensional trademark, 3D trademark, shape mark, OHIM
JEL Classification: Q34
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation