Advertising Slogans as Trade Marks: 'Banal' Slogans Crash and Burn
Published on 4th Feb 2015
Who: Blackrock, Inc., (“Applicant”) (1) Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (“OHIM”) (2)
Where: The General Court of the European Union (Ninth Chamber)
When: 29 January 2015
What happened:
US Corporation Blackrock Inc. had applied to register the Marks “INVESTING FOR A NEW WORLD” and “SO WHAT DO I DO WITH MY MONEY” as European Community Trademark (“CTM”) registrations. This was to cover several financial services in classes 35 and 36. The Court rejected both appeals on the basis that both Marks were “banal” phrases consisting of ordinary words, which were both simply laudatory and descriptive of services in question, and were devoid of distinctive character. However, the mere fact that they were advertising slogans did not in and of itself prevent them from being registered as trademarks.
Read the blog in full here.
