Gino's post below ties in nicely with more moon-related trade mark news. From Germany comes the news that a cancellation request for German trade mark No. 30670192.8 "Vollmond-Salami" (full-moon salami) under section 50 of the German Trade Marks Act (absolute grounds for refusal) has been published in the official journal of calendar week 7/2008.

As a Friday trade mark treat, here is a short recap of the history of this curious trade mark: last summer, the German Bundespatentgericht (Federal Patent Court) decided that the mark "Vollmond-Salami"(full-moon salami) was not registrable for goods in class 29; [case reference 28 W(pat) 6/07]. In its decision Court expressed the view that the mark "Vollmond-Salami" was purely descriptive of meat products that are produced during the time of full moon. The Court agreed with the German Trade Marks Registry that over the last few years German consumers have been increasinly focussing on the lunar cycle's influence on human health. According to consumer surveys cited in the case, up to 90 per cent of the German population appears to be convinced that the moon influences our lives to some extent. A hearing in the case had further revealed that products produced during the time of full moon had become quite common on the German market. Products like mineral water that is bottled at full moon or bread that is baked following the the lunar calendar had become main stream products and were no longer limited to consumers with an interest in esoterics.

The Court therefore concluded that the mark Vollmond-Salami indicated a characteristic of the product through its reference to the time of "full moon", a time period that was of importance to the relevant German consumers. Vollmond-Salami, as a direct description of the characteristics of the goods in question, that is sausages, hence had to be considered non-distinctive and the mark consequently was to be considered unregistrable.