CONFECTIONERY APPEALS REACH A STICKY END

Confectionery appeals reach a sticky end

The IPKat is not surprised that, in Cases C-24/05 P and C-25/-05 P August Storck KG v OHIM, the European Court of Justice dismissed the appeals of August Storck KG against the Court of First Instance's dismissal of its appeals against the Board of Appeal's dismissal of its appeal against the examiner's thoroughly correct decision to refuse registration of its three-dimensional marks (depicted here) as Community trade marks.

The Kat is horrified to see how much time and effort has been expended in demonstrating, in terms of sound legal logic, that these totally unmeritorious non-marks are unregistrable. These rulings are 78 and 89 paragraphs long, respectively. Contrast this with the really important cases: Adidas v Fitnessworld was only 42 paragraphs long, Sabel v Puma 27 and even Windsurfing-Chiemsee (remember how endlessly long it was at the time it came out) was just 55 paragraphs.

Never mind, says Merpel: the applicant's product is quite delicious and is recognised by the public under quite a popular trade mark, the word mark WERTHERS.

More on August Storck here
Werthers Original here