The European Court of General Jurisdiction confirmed the EUIPO’s decision to cancel the registration of the adidas trademark on the territory of the European Union. The court noted that the mark is not a pattern mark, which consists of repeated elements, but is a simple figurative mark.
Earlier, in 2014, EUIPO registered a trademark that adidas described in its application as follows: “three parallel, equidistant lines of equal width applied to the product in any direction”. However, following an invalidation application filed by the Belgian company Branding Europe BVBA, the EUIPO canceled this registration. EUIPO based its decision on the fact that the mark lacks distinctiveness, both inherent from the beginning and acquired as a result of use.
Also, the press release reports that the Court noted the absence of an error on the part of EUIPO regarding the evaluation of the research of adidas materials. The EUIPO considered that adidas had not proved the use of the mark throughout the European Union and the acquisition of distinctiveness as a result of the use of the trademark.
EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) is an agency that registers European Union trademarks, which are granted legal protection on the territory of all EU member states as a result of registration.
Source: www.curia.europa.eu