Thank you Martin Schwimmer for waking us up this morning with the delightful Droste effect posting on The Trademark Blog! The well known cocoa packaging from Dutch chocolatier Droste (famous for cocoa and what we call flikken) on the left is registered as a figurative trade mark in the Benelux since January 4, 1971, but Droste has occupied a broader territory for the trade mark via several international registrations of which the oldest seems to go back to January 24, 1963 for cocoa, that only differs slightly from the Benelux registration (Cacao Droste versus Droste cacao). All registrations however have the Droste effect as a distinctive element, the beauty of which is that the trade mark in itself reflects infinity, although unfortunetaly that characteristic does not free Droste from the earthly business of  maintenance of the trade mark portfolio, but that is in the safe hands of Merkenbureau Knijff & Partners. 

According to information on the internet Droste introduced the infinite image around 1900 and it is certainly a Dutch trade mark icon. Sources on the internet learn that the image was designed by Johannes Misset, a poster artist from Haarlem. It is said that Misset was inspired by the painting La serveuse chocolate from Swiss painter Jean Etienne Liotard. Droste however was at that time not the only chocolatier who tried to depict the healthy characteristics of chocolate milk by using a nurse as waitress. The Erven de Jong (the heirs De Jong) from Wormerveer also used a depiction of a nurse (unfortunetaly I could not find an example) for cocoa. Apparently both companies started litigation which was won by Droste who started to use the image as a trade mark in 1909.