Balmain can’t register lion’s head as TM, EU court rules
The EU General Court has blocked French fashion house Balmain from registering trademarks for two medallion-style designs for a lion’s head that it uses on the buttons of its clothes.
In decisions issued today, February 5, the court said the lion’s head designs were lacking in distinctive character.
Balmain applied to register the marks in November 2017, in classes 9, 14, 18, 25, and 28, covering items such as clothes, cufflinks, buttons, and leather goods.
In May 2018, an European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) trademark examiner refused registration for the marks in classes 14 and 26, for cufflinks and buttons.
According to the examiner, whose decision was subsequently held up on appeal by an EUIPO board, designs featuring a lion’s head are commonplace on buttons and cufflinks, and cannot serve to identify Balmain as the source of the goods.
Balmain took its case to the General Court, arguing that those in the fashion sector would pay a higher level of attention when purchasing such goods, and be able to distinguish Balmain as the origin of the products.
But according to the General Court, this argument did not overcome the designs’ lack of distinctive character.
Balmain was unable to counter the argument that a lion’s head was a common feature of button designs in the fashion industry, the court found.
Neither design was therefore able to fulfill its necessary function as a trademark, the General Court ruled.
Balmain was ordered to bear its own costs and those of the EUIPO.
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