Court of Justice (Sixth Chamber), Order, 14 April 2016, in case C 451/15 P (Best-Lock (Europe) Ltd v. EUIPO and Lego Juris A/S)
Court of Justice (Sixth Chamber), Order, 14 April 2016, in case C 452/15 P (Best-Lock (Europe) Ltd v. EUIPO and Lego Juris A/S)

Community trade mark – Three-dimensional trade mark in the shape of a toy figure with protrusion– Invalidity proceedings

Having regard to the graphical representation of the contested trade mark and the fact that it is in the shape of a figure having a human appearance, it must be held that the head, body, arms and legs which are necessary in order for the figure to have that appearance constitute the essential characteristics of the contested trade mark, and none of the evidence permits a finding that those particular elements of the shape in question serve any technical function.
In respect of the holes under the feet and inside the backs of the legs and the hands of the figure at issue, their graphical representation does not, per se and a priori, enable it to be known whether those elements have any technical function and, if so, what that function is. The shape of those elements may have a technical function, but those elements cannot be held, either in view of the overall impression conveyed by the contested trade mark or as a result of the analysis of its constituent elements, to be the most important elements of that mark. They do not constitute an essential characteristic of the shape in question. There is nothing to show that the essential functional characteristics of the shapes of those elements are attributable to the claimed technical result. The contested mark did not consist exclusively of the product shape necessary to obtain a technical result.

categoria:European Case Law