The EU General Court ruled that Adidas’ “3-stripes” trademark was invalid on June 19, 2019, saying that it lacked distinctiveness.
Reuters reported that the EU General Court (General Court of the European Union) stated that this judgment upheld the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)’s 2016 decision to annul the previous acceptance of this trademark.
The German sports brand adidas registered the “3-stripes” trademark representing clothing, footwear and headwear in 2014. Adidas said that “these three parallel lines of equal width” , applicable to their products in any direction.”
However, the Belgian shoe company ShoeBrandingEurope challenged it. The trademark dispute between Shoe Branding Europe and adidas has lasted for 10 years.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Shoe Branding’s “2-stripes” trademark was invalid in 2018 on the grounds that it was too similar to Adidas’s.
The court said that adidas must prove that its trademark is “distinctive” throughout the EU, that is, it must let consumers know that the products with this trademark are from adidas. And be able to differentiate it from other companies’ products.
The court stated that the Adidas trademark was not a pattern, but an “ordinary symbolic mark”, and pointed out that the specific use including color should be taken into account and inappropriate.
The court also mentioned that although adidas had provided evidence that its trademarks were used in five EU countries, not all EU countries. Adidas was still able to appeal to the EU’s highest court, the European Court of Justice.
AAAJH. LK‘PO[IUYUKT
