Wine Law

104 WINE LAW  a shape or another characteristic that results from the nature of the goods themselves; which is necessary to obtain a technical result or gives substantial value to the goods art. 7(1)(e)]. It is in the public interest for such requirements to prevent the trademark owner from acquiring a monopoly on terms or shapes common in the respective trade and which should be freely used by all competitors. Thus, the abovementioned absolute grounds for refusal shall apply despite the grounds for non-registrability being obtained in only part of the Union [art. 7(2)]. I.2.1. COMMONPLACE ELEMENTS As mentioned, the core function of a trademark is to be capable of distinguishing goods or services from others goods or services. Therefore, when the elements of the sign are too simple or commonplace, they lose their capacity and should not be registered as a trademark. This applies not only to word elements but also figurative elements if they are true-to-life portrayals of the goods and services or consist of symbolic/stylised portrayals of the goods and services that do not depart significantly from their common representation3. As a consequence, in the wine sector, the representation of a vine leaf for wine or a yellow label with green outlines showing a stylised representation of fruits for goods in classes 32 and 33 are considered not to be distinctive4. Commonplace signs are also often descriptive of a characteristic and may be refused registration based on other provisions of article 7(1). I.2.2. LACK OF DISTINCTIVENESS OF DESCRIPTIVE TERMS Article 7(1)(c) provides a non-exhaustive list of signs that can be considered as descriptive of a characteristic of the products or services designated, for instance, its type or nature, laudatory terms, referring to a superior quality of the respective goods or services, as well as the inherent quality of the goods or services, the quantity in which the goods can be sold, its intended purpose/function and expected result, its value, its geographical origin, the time 3 See the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) trademarks guidelines. 4 EUTM No 10 776 599, EUIPO trademarks guidelines.

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