istock-466977445blacktomb
5 July 2018

CJEU dismisses Jägermeister appeal in shot glass dispute

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rejected  Mast-Jägermeister’s attempt to register a shot glass design today.

In April 2015, Jägermeister applied to register the design, which features images of the brand’s alcohol bottles, with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) under international class 7 for ‘beakers’.

However, the examiner rejected the design, finding that because the representations included beakers and well-known bottles of the drink, it was unclear what Jägermeister sought to protect.

Jägermeister claimed that protection wasn’t sought for the bottles and amended the design description to “drinking beakers as receptacles for a bottle which is part of those beakers”.

But the EUIPO rejected the design, concluding that the amendments didn’t remedy the “defects” noted so the application didn’t meet the criteria for a Community design, so no date of filing could be attributed.

In February last year, the General Court upheld the EUIPO’s decision, saying it was not possible to decipher whether protection was sought for the beaker, the bottle, or a combination of the two.

The General Court also found that Jägermeister had the opportunity to remedy the issues with the original application but failed to do so in the allotted time frame, so the finding that no date of filing could be attributed was correct.

Again, Jägermeister appealed against the decision, this time to the CJEU. The liquor company contended that the beaker together with the bottles is not intended to form the subject matter of the design so is not subject to the “technical requirements” of being unequivocal.

One year after the General Court’s decision, advocate general (AG) Juliane Kokott advised the CJEU to dismiss the appeal.

Kokott agreed with the General Court and the EUIPO that “the design in the application must not only satisfy certain technical requirements, but also be unequivocal in terms of its content”.

She said Jägermeister’s argument is unconvincing as “the concept of representation also encompasses the idea of being able to distinguish the content of design”.

Before the CJEU, Jägermeister claimed that a filing date depends solely on an examination of the representation of the design in terms of its physical ability to be reproduced.

The liquor company added that the General Court erred in holding that the filing date extends to inaccuracies or lack of certainty or clarity on the purpose of the protection.

But the CJEU sided with the General Court and the AG, finding that the application doesn’t clearly identify the design for which registration was sought.

“In that regard, it should be noted that the purpose of registration of a design in a public register is to make it accessible to the competent authorities and the public, in particular to economic operators,” said the court.

It added that authorities must know “clearly and precisely” the nature of the constituent elements of a design in order to maintain the register and that “economic operators” must be able to ascertain with clarity and precision the nature of applications made by competitors.

“Such a requirement is, as the court of first instance essentially states in paragraph 47 of the contested judgment, to ensure the legal certainty of third parties,” the court concluded.

Jägermeister’s appeal was dismissed and the liquor company was ordered to pay costs.

Speaking to WIPR, a spokesperson for Jägermeister said the primary goal of the appeal was to "achieve general clarity on the principles which underlie the registration process".

Although the CJEU's decision did not go in Jägermeister's favour, the spokesperson said the company welcomes the decision as it "allows us to align our future projects accordingly".

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.

Today’s top stories

UKIPO rejects ‘Experience’ TM at Jaguar’s request

European Parliament reopens copyright debate

USITC sides with Motorola in Hytera patent dispute

Kim Dotcom can be extradited to US, says New Zealand court

Halfords IP adds to patent team Down Under

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Trademarks
22 February 2018   An advocate general has shot down Jägermeister’s attempt to register a shot glass design featuring images of the brand’s alcohol bottles, backing a decision of the EU General Court.
Trademarks
22 August 2017   Alcoholic drinks maker Jägermeister has been sued for trademark infringement by an outdoor wear company over an advert featuring the word “Kühl”.
Trademarks
19 February 2020   Jägermeister has succeeded in registering a Swiss trademark for its logo featuring a stag and a cross, after convincing the court that it would not offend the country’s Christian population.