Best-Lock (Europe) Ltd v OHIM, EU General Court
The European Union General Court has upheld a decision by OHIM to throw out two applications to have Lego’s registered Community Trade Marks declared invalid. OHIM – the body that grants or rejects CTMs – had granted the trade mark registrations to the toy giant, but these were challenged by a competitor who claimed that the three-dimensional shapes should have fallen foul of the exclusion for consisting exclusively of the shape which resulted from the nature of the goods themselves.
The Court backed OHIM’s decision not to agree with the competitor as the graphical representation including the holes under the feet and in the backs of the legs did not indicate any technical function. However, even if that was not the case, those elements were not the most important elements of the trade marks.