BENETTON CASE SPURS ECJ CLOTHES SHAPE TRADEMARK PRECEDENT
September 1st, 2007
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CLOTHING companies cannot trademark design shapes after advertising campaigns highlighted particular products, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. In a case between Benetton and Dutch clothing company G-Star International BV, judges ruled such protection is excluded under European Union (EU) directive 89/104/EEC on trademarks. G-Star had tried to prevent Benetton making or distributing trousers in the Netherlands, which it said broke trademark rights claimed under Benelux law for the design of its Elwood trousers. The Dutch firm ...
Full access to this article can be arranged with permission from the client that first ordered it. Please contact us to request access. Entries are uploaded to our archive at least one year after being published by a client – free access is restricted to International News Services journalists for background research only. The article date indicates when copy was filed to a client, not when posted to this archive. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.