In case T-397/09, M.Ernst August Prinz von Hannover Herzog zu Braunschweig und Lüneburg (a.k.a. Prinz von Hannover) wished to register the figurative CTM representing the armorial bearings of the Hannover family (on the left) for various goods and services.

The General Court confirmed the OHIM’s practice to refuse such registration on the grounds of Articles 7(1) (h) CTMR and 6ter of Paris convention, because it constituted an “ imitation from a heraldic point of view” of emblems already protected by the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland since 1971 (on the right), the only difference being in the representation of the crowns. The Court rejected the applicant’s argument that he had an absolute right to register as a CTM its families’ coat of arms, stating that the refusal did not impede the actual right to use the emblem.