The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), by order of 26 April 2024, rejected the request made by Loro Piana, concerning the registration of a trademark consisting of the combination of a band with a nosecone and ribbons with metal pendants, one in the form of a lock and the other in the form of a ring, attached to the mask of the upper part of a shoe.
The sign in question belongs to the category of “position trademarks”, which have as their object the application of figurative or three-dimensional elements to the surface of a product, and the rejection of the application was based on the absence of distinctiveness, a requirement laid down in art. 7, par. 1(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 on the European Union Trade Mark (EUTMR).
In the opinion of EUIPO, the sign in question was devoid of distinctive character as it was not capable of fulfilling the essential function of the trademark, namely that of identifying the origin of the product in order to enable the purchaser of the product designated by the mark to make the same choice when making a subsequent purchase, whether the experience has proved positive, or another choice, in case of negative experience.
As the affixing of stub bands, ribbons and pendants to the upper part of a shoe is a fairly common practice in the footwear sector, EUIPO considered that the target consumer would have considered the sign simply as a set of decorative elements, without giving it the meaning of an indicator of the commercial provenance of the products.
