Country name as a trademark, or where do the possibilities for registration end?
The question of whether an entrepreneur can register a trademark with the name of a country and thus "appropriate" it has long been a sensitive issue in the decision-making practice of intellectual property protection authorities.
The question of whether an entrepreneur can register a trademark with the name of a country and thus "appropriate" it has long been a sensitive issue in the decision-making practice of intellectual property protection authorities.
The cornerstone of trademark law is the rule that a trademark must be capable of distinguishing the goods and services of one entrepreneur from those of another. Trademarks consisting exclusively of descriptive designations, including geographical names, are considered inadmissible.
This approach does not merely pursue formalistic protection against descriptive indications. It also serves the public interest of preserving their availability for future free use of that geographical indication in trade to denote a certain quality or positive association with a particular place.
The decisions of the General Court in cases T-105/23 and T-106/23 ("ICELAND" – word and figurative marks) confirm that the names of countries and other geographical names are, in principle, descriptive of a wide range of goods and services if they evoke or are reasonably capable of evoking an association with their geographical origin in the mind of the relevant public.