Product and process functionality in shapes necessary to obtain a technical result under EU Trademark Law

• Autores: Bernardo Calabrese
• Localización: Revista Lex Mercatoria, ISSN-e 2445-0936, Nº. 2, 2016, págs. 4-11
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • European Union law permits to register the shape of goods as a trademark, providing an ad hoc set of rules governing this particular category of signs . Both EU Trademark Directive and EU Trademark Regulation (with identical wording) codify three special absolute grounds for refusal or invalidity. These concern “signs which consist exclusively of: (i) the shape which result from the nature of the goods themselves; (ii) the shape of goods which is necessary to obtain a technical result; (iii) the shape which gives substantial value to the goods”