FRUIT JUICE PACKAGING TRADEMARK CASE ECJ GERMANY
January 1st, 2006
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GERMAN fruit juice and fruit drink company has failed to persuade the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to allow the trademarking of its stand-up pouch packaging shapes. Deutsche SiSi-Werke GmbH & Co. Betriebs KG was appealing against a refusal by the ECJ Court of First Instance to permit trademark registration. The senior ECJ agreed that the convex shapes "were devoid of (the) distinctive character" required, given "that form of packaging is already in general use in the EU for liquids for human consumption".
ENDS
A GERMAN fruit juice and fruit drink company has failed to persuade the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to allow the trademarking of its stand-up pouch packaging shapes. Deutsche SiSi-Werke GmbH & Co. Betriebs KG was appealing against a refusal by the ECJ Court of First Instance to permit trademark registration. The senior ECJ agreed that the convex shapes "were devoid of (the) distinctive character" required, given "that form of packaging is already in general use in the EU for liquids for human consumption".
ENDS
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