Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
interest in its remaining freely available. This rejection was supported by the
Board of Appeal of OHIM.
On appeal to the Court of First Instance, the applicant did not dispute that the
term 'OLDENBURG' designates the principal town of the region of Weser-
Ems in the Land of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) and a town of the same
name in the Land of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, nor did it deny that
goods of the kind covered by the application for registration were manufactured
in the district of Weser-Ems. However, the applicant denied that the mark
sought, 'OLDENBURGER', was composed exclusively of an indication which,
taken alone, designates or could designate the geographical origin of the goods
to which it is affixed and that the Board of Appeal extended the absolute
ground for refusal relating to terms that are exclusively descriptive of origin to
cover an indication which merely refers to a GI or is derived from one.
6.44
Applying
Windsurfing Chiemsee
,
62
the Court explained that as regards signs or
indications which may serve to designate the geographical origin of the
categories of goods in relation to which registration of the mark is applied for,
especially geographical names, it was in the public interest that they remain
available, not least because they may be an indication of the quality and other
characteristics of the categories of goods concerned, and may also, in various
ways, influence consumer tastes by, for instance, associating the goods with a
place that may give rise to a favourable response.
63
Furthermore, the registra-
tion of geographical names as trade marks solely where they designate specified
geographical locations which are already famous, or are known for the category
of goods concerned, and which are therefore associated with those goods in the
mind of the relevant class of persons, was excluded, as well as the registration of
geographical names which are liable to be used by undertakings and must
remain available to such undertakings as indications of the geographical origin
of the category of goods concerned.
64
6.45
The Court observed, however, that Art 7(1)(c) of the Regulation did not, in
principle, preclude the registration of geographical names which were unknown
to the relevant class of persons - or at least unknown as the designation of a
geographical location - or of names in respect of which, because of the type of
place they designate, such persons are unlikely to believe that the category of
goods concerned originates there.
65
Thus, the Court ruled, a sign's descriptive-
ness could not be assessed other than by reference to the goods or services
6.46
62
[1999] ECR I-2779 at para 26.
63
[2003] EUECJ T-295/01 at para 31.
64
Ibid.
65
Ibid, at para 34.
