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Nov 19, 2020
Simon Casinader, K&L Gates LLP, United Kingdom
Ravena Guron, K&L Gates LLP, United Kingdom
First published at www.iplawwatch.com

Putting Position Marks Front and Centre: CJEU Considers...


Simon Casinader, K&L Gates LLP, United Kingdom , Ravena Guron, K&L Gates LLP, United Kingdom, First published at www.iplawwatch.comIn a recent Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling, based on a referral from the Stockholm Court of Appeal, the CJEU considered whether the distinctiveness of a sign that is to be applied to specific services should be assessed with regard to what is customary in the relevant sector. The Court clarified that, in the context of trade marks for services, the assessment of a sign's distinctiveness should not always involve an assessment of norms and/or customs of the sector. In November 2016, Östgötatrafiken, a Swedish transportation company applied for trade marks described as "position marks" for various services produced by means of vehicles and transport. The marks would consist of coloured ellipses of different sizes and placed into certain positions on buses and trains (see below for a few examples of the marks that were filed). Importantly, the position marks are affixed in a particular way to buses and trains used to provide transport services, but the shape of those vehicles were not the subject of the  read more