Opinion: Court spurns long-tail trade mark
20 August 2010
Managing Intellectual Property
Germany’s Federal Court of Justice has ruled that long-tail trade marks are generally devoid of distinctive character. Jens Matthes and Christian W Liedtke examine five key points from the decision and provide three tips for applicants
On August 19, the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) released its decision in "Die Vision" (the vision), I ZB 35/09.
In its ruling, the BGH found that long-tail trade marks (trade marks consisting of a huge number of words or word orders) are generally devoid of any distinctive character (Section 8 para II No 1 MarkenG, Article 3 (1) (b) of the Trade Mark Directive).
The trade mark at issue
The case, which was previously before the Federal Patent Court in Munich (BPatG 33 W (pat) 21/07), is based on a trade mark application by Wiebold-Confiserie GmbH & Co KG.
Wiebold had sought to register in classes 30, 35 and 42:
Die Vision: EINZIGARTIGES ENGAGEMENT IN TRÜFFELPRALINEN
Der Sinn: Jeder weiß WAS wann zu tun ist und was NICHT zu tun ist
Der Nutzen: Alle tun das RICHTIGE zur richtigen Zeit
This translates as:
The vision: UNIQUE DEDICATION TO...
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