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CLASS 46


Now in its twelfth year, Class 46 is dedicated to European trade mark law and practice. This weblog is written by a team of enthusiasts who want to spread the word and share their thoughts with others.

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Anthonia Ghalamkarizadeh
Birgit Clark
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Christian Tenkhoff
Fidel Porcuna
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Markku Tuominen
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Stefan Schröter
Tomasz Rychlicki
Yvonne Onomor
WEDNESDAY, 19 JUNE 2013
German Federal Patent Court: LandLust

The German Federal Patent recently had to decide on the registrability of the sign ‘LandLust’ (mildly stylised device) for home and garden magazines in Class 16. 

The court found that the mark was not distinctive enough for registration, Article 8 (2) No. 1 German Trade Mark Act, despite not being a dictionary term and being a neologism, it would be easily understood by the relevant consumers.

However, this absolute ground of refusal was overcome by the mark’s acquired distinctiveness, Article 8 (3) German Trade Mark Act.  The judges went on to explain that, when deciding whether a mark had acquired distinctiveness in consumer circles (Verkehrsbekanntheit), there was no need to conduct any consumer surveys where members of the court, being a part of the targeted consumer circles, were already aware of the magazine’s market leadership.  As such, it was known to the court that the mark LandLust was well-known to a significant part of the overall (German) population. 

Class 46: a German court’s view on the evergreen “survey” question.

To read this decision in its entirety, please click here (in German)

Case reference: 29 W (pat) 524/11 – LandLust of 28 November 2012

Posted by: Birgit Clark @ 18.37
Tags: distinctiveness, survey, German Federal Patent Court,
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