The Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reports of a new decision by the German Federal Patent Court (Bundespatentgericht), which the court handed down on Monday. In its decision the court confirmed an earlier decision by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office and ruled, so the report, that the former GDR's state symbol (a crest of arms consisting of a hammer, a pair of compasses and grain) could not be registered as a device mark. The mark in question appears to have covered different goods and services, including various types of clothing and beverages.

It is further reported that the court viewed a registration of the GDR's statesymbol as a trade mark as being against goods moral ("Verstoss gegen die guten Sitten"): in the past the sysmbol had been used on medals to decorate soldiers and members of the GDR's state security. In the light of political persecution during the times of the GDR and given the shootings at the Berlin Wall of civilians that tried to flee the GDR, such use of the GDR state symbol had to be disapproved of. Vicitims of the GDR regime would view such a trade mark as "pure, intolerable political sarcasm". The court's spokesperson did not provide any further background concerning this case, according to the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.

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