Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 5 March 2020, Case C-766/18 P Can I register as a trademark a term designating a geographical territory? Although the answer to this question may seem simple in light of the EU Trademark Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 stipulating that indications which may serve to designate the geographical origin of a good or service cannot be registered as trademarks, the very same legal text provides for…
The question referred for a preliminary ruling by the Kúria (the Hungarian Supreme Court), dated 23 April 2020, was raised in connection with the application for a three-dimensional trade mark filed on 5 February 2015 by the company Gömböc Kutató, Szolgáltató és Kereskedelmi Kft. (hereinafter ‘Gömböc’), before the Hungarian Trademark Office (Szellemi Tulajdon Nemzeti Hivatala), which refused the Application. In particular, the application contained a three-dimensional element and claimed protection in Class 14 for decorative…