17 March 2011
A number cannot be trademarked where it describes the goods, the European Court of Justice has held. A Polish publisher was refused permission to register the number 1000 as a trade mark for a puzzle book because it described the book.
The court ruled that the number was too descriptive, and not distinctive enough. Community trade marks cannot be made only of signs that describe characteristics of the goods because these should be freely available to other providers of such goods or services, the court said. The case was Agencja Wydawnicza Technopol v OHIM (C-51/10 P).
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