Annual Review of EU Trademark Law 2016 in Review Guy Heath—CMS London, United Kingdom with Georg Jahn—Noerr LLP Munich, Germany Jordi Güell—Curell Suñol Barcelona, Spain Anne Marie Verschuur—NautaDutilh Amsterdam, The Netherlands Pier Luigi Roncaglia—Studio Legale SIB Florence, Italy Anne-Laure Villedieu—CMS Bureau Francis Lefebre Paris, France Ivo Rungg—Binder Grösswang Vienna, Austria Nina Ringen—Lundgrens Copenhagen, Denmark Johan Norderyd—Lindahl Stockholm, Sweden Tanguy de Haan—NautaDutilh Brussels, Belgium Alistair Payne—Acuatus Solicitors Dublin, Ireland Vincent Wellens—NautaDutilh Luxembourg March–April, 2017 Vol. 107 No. 2 INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK ASSOCIATION Powerful Network Powerful Brands 655 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017-5646 Telephone: +1 (212) 642-1733 email: [email protected] Facsimile: +1 (212) 768-7796 OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION JOSEPH FERRETTI ................................................................................................................... President TISH L. BERARD ..............................................................................................................President Elect DAVID LOSSIGNOL ........................................................................................................... Vice President AYALA DEUTSCH ............................................................................................................. Vice President TIKI DARE ............................................................................................................................... Treasurer ZEEGER VINK .......................................................................................................................... Secretary MAURY M. TEPPER, III ............................................................................................................... Counsel ETIENNE SANZ DE ACEDO ................................................................................... Chief Executive Officer The Trademark Reporter Committee EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CHAIR STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KATHLEEN E. MCCARTHY WILLARD KNOX Senior Editors NEIL WILKOF JESSICA ELLIOTT CARDON RUTH CORBIN GLENN MITCHELL ELISABETH KASZNAR FEKETE RAFFI V. ZEROUNIAN FABRIZIO MIAZZETTO PAMELA CHESTEK CHIKAKO MORI Staff Editor Staff Editor BEVERLY HARRIS JOEL L. BROMBERG Editors TSAN ABRAHAMSON ANN LAMPORT HAMMITTE SAURABH NANDREKAR MARIA BARATTA GUY HEATH AMANDA NYE MARTIN J. BERAN ANNE HIARING HOCKING JENIFER DEWOLF PAINE DANIEL R. BERESKIN JANET L. HOFFMAN JEREMY B. PENNANT STEFANIA BERGIA GANG HU NEAL PLATT LANNING BRYER DOMINIC HUI MICHIEL RIJSDIJK SHELDON BURSHTEIN AHMAD HUSSEIN RACHEL RUDENSKY IRENE CALBOLI BRUCE ISAACSON JEREMY SCHACHTER ROBERT CAMERON AGLIKA IVANOVA MATTHEW R. SCHANTZ JANE F. COLLEN E. DEBORAH JAY MARTIN SCHWIMMER THEODORE H. DAVIS JR. FENGTAO JIANG JENNIFER SICKLER ANNE DESMOUSSEAUX HE JING AARON SILVERSTEIN MEGHAN DILLON MARIA JOSE JIRON BENDANA ALEX SIMONSON THOMAS F. DUNN SIEGRUN D. KANE GIULIO ENRICO SIRONI SCOT DUVALL SUSAN J. KERI WENDI E. SLOANE CLAUS M. ECKHARTT MIKE KEYES JERRE B. SWANN, JR. SHEJA EHTESHAM ROLAND KUNZE SCOTT THOMPSON KAREN L. ELBURG JOI MICHELLE LAKES CHINASA UWANNA MATTHEW EZELL SCOTT LEBSON ANJALI VALSANGKAR NEMESIO FERNANDEZ-PACHECO NELS LIPPERT EDWARD E. VASSALLO SALVADOR FERRANDIS MARCUS LUEPKE MARTIN VIEFHUES ALFRED FRAWLEY J. THOMAS MCCARTHY CHARLES WEBSTER ALEX GARENS NANCY A. MILLER JORDAN WEINSTEIN ALEXANDRA GEORGE GEORGE W. MOXON JOHN L. WELCH DANIEL GLAZER JOHN M. MURPHY JOSEPH WELCH ANDREW J. GRAY IV PAUL MUSSELL BRYAN K. WHEELOCK LESLEY MCCALL GROSSBERG SADAF NAKHAEI JOSEPH YANG Advisory Board MILES J. ALEXANDER ROBERT M. KUNSTADT ROBERT L. RASKOPF WILLIAM M. BORCHARD THEODORE C. MAX PASQUALE A. RAZZANO CLIFFORD W. BROWNING JONATHAN MOSKIN SUSAN REISS LANNING G. BRYER VINCENT N. PALLADINO PIER LUIGI RONCAGLIA SANDRA EDELMAN JOHN B. PEGRAM HOWARD J. SHIRE ANTHONY L. FLETCHER ALLAN S. PILSON JERRE B. SWANN, SR. ARTHUR J. GREENBAUM STEVEN M. WEINBERG The views expressed in The Trademark Reporter are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of INTA. The Trademark Reporter (ISSN 0041-056X) is published electronically six times a year by the International Trademark Association, 655 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017-5646 USA. INTA, the INTA logo, INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK ASSOCIATION, POWERFUL NETWORK POWERFUL BRANDS, THE TRADEMARK REPORTER, and inta.org are trademarks, service marks, and/or registered trademarks of the International Trademark Association in the United States and certain other jurisdictions. The Trademark Reporter® Copyright 2017, by the International Trademark Association All Rights Reserved Vol. 107 March–April, 2017 No. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ANNUAL REVIEW OF EU TRADEMARK LAW 2016 in Review I. Introduction ......................................................................... 466 A. About this Review .......................................................... 466 B. Legislative Change and Terminology ............................ 466 C. Organization of Material in this Review ....................... 467 II. “Signs” Capable of Registration ........................................... 468 A. Introductory Comments ................................................. 468 B. Legal Texts (Note: the quoted texts are pre-2016: See Introduction) .................................................................. 468 C. Cases .............................................................................. 469 1. United Kingdom—English High Court— What is the effect of a mismatch between the verbal and the visual identification of a trademark? ......... 469 2. United Kingdom—English High Court—Can a registration be considered to cover a series of marks, even when the mark was not registered as such at the outset? ............................................... 473 3. United Kingdom—English Court of Appeal— Validity—Is the registration of a “series” mark under UK law compatible with EU law? ................. 477 This issue of The Trademark Reporter (TMR) should be cited as 107 TMR ___ (2017). ii Vol. 107 TMR III. Absolute Grounds for Refusal of Registration, and for Cancellation, and Post-Registration Genericness ............... 480 A. Introductory Comments ................................................. 480 B. Legal Texts (Note: the quoted texts are pre-2016. See Introduction) .................................................................. 481 C. Cases .............................................................................. 483 1. EU—CJEU—Shape marks—May the EUIPO take into account information about a product shape mark that is not manifest from the graphic representative of the mark and any description of the mark? ........................................... 483 2. EU—General Court—When is a mark to be treated as conveying a mere promotional message? ................................................................... 485 3. EU—EU General Court—Does the law on EUTMs recognize that merely suggestive or allusive terms should not be condemned as descriptive? ............................................................... 487 4. EU—EU General Court—How far can descriptiveness objections apply across a range of goods and services associated with the operation of an online platform? .............................. 489 5. EU—EU General Court—Can potential descriptiveness issues relating to the laudatory meaning of a word be swamped by consideration of other descriptive meanings that the word might or might not be given in the context? ............ 492 6. EU—EU General Court—Can descriptiveness objections based on the meaning of a mark in a certain European language be overcome by evidence that, in the relevant culture of the consumers who speak that language, the term of which the mark is composed would not be used? .... 494 7. EU—EU General Court—What gives a simple graphic form distinctive trademark character in the eyes of the relevant public? ................................ 497 Vol. 107 TMR iii 8. EU—EU General Court—In what circumstances may a figurative mark formed of a geometric pattern be taken as liable to form a surface decoration or an aspect of a product or packaging shape?...................................................... 498 9. EU—General Court—Can a shape mark be held to have acquired a distinctive character where the shape in question is absorbed within another shape that has been extensively marketed, and is not distinguished from it? ............ 501 10. EU—EU General Court—Can an abstract design confer inherent distinctiveness on a color mark, and can a survey designed to show acquired distinctiveness also help establish the mark’s inherent distinctiveness? ............................. 503 11. EU—General Court—Sound marks—When should a sound mark be regarded as excessively simple, notwithstanding the familiarity of consumers with the use of sound marks in the economic sector concerned? ...................................... 505 12. EU—EU General Court—Can a claim to acquired distinctiveness be established by use of an abbreviation of the trademark concerned? ......... 508 13. EU—EU General Court—For an EUTM to have acquired distinctive character through use, must the mark have been used in the whole of the European Union? ............................................... 510 14. United Kingdom—English High Court—Shape marks—Article 3(3)—For a shape mark to have acquired distinctive character, must the trademark applicant be able to demonstrate that the relevant public rely on the shape