A short, sharp ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Communities was delivered today in Case C-495/07 Silberquelle GmbH v Maselli-Strickmode GmbH, a reference from Austria for a preliminary as to whether giving away free drinks as a promotional support for the sale of clothing constitutes genuine use of a trade mark (registered both for clothing and for drinks) in respect of drinks. According to the Court,

"... where the proprietor of a mark affixes that mark to items that it gives, free of charge, to purchasers of its goods, it does not make genuine use of that mark in respect of the class covering those items".