IP10070
Bundesgerichtshof, 18 Oktober 2017
Marques: "In yesterday's decision, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) annulled two rulings of the German Federal Patent Court (BPatG) that held both three-dimensional signs depicted below not to be eligible for protection as trade marks. […]
The BPatG argued that the squared shape of the packaging could not be protected as a trade mark because it fell foul of the requirements set out in Section 3(2) no. 1 of the German Trade Mark Act. That provision gives effect to Article 3(1)(e)(i) of the Trade Mark Directive 2008/95/EC which states that signs are liable to be declared invalid if they consist exclusively of the shape which results from the nature of the goods themselves. […]”
