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13 October 2015Trademarks

Halloumi CTM application too descriptive, says EU court

The term Halloumi is too descriptive to obtain Community trademark (CTM) protection, according to a ruling by the EU General Court.

The court knocked back Cyprus’s attempt to receive protection for both ‘Halloumi’ and the Greek spelling ‘Xaλλoymi’ to cover cheese and milk products.

Cyprus applied for CTM protection in 2013. An examiner at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) rejected the application and the Fourth Board of Appeal affirmed the dismissal last year. Cyprus later appealed against the board of appeal’s ruling.

In a judgment issued last Wednesday, October 7, the court affirmed OHIM’s finding that the applications were too descriptive.

“It must be accepted that the descriptive meaning of the sign ‘Halloumi’, as found by the board of appeal, is established, at least for the Cypriot public. For identical reasons, the same conclusion can be drawn in respect of the sign ‘Xaλλoymi’,” the court said.

“It follows that the board of appeal made no error of assessment in finding that the marks applied for could not be accepted for registration because of their descriptive meaning of the goods in respect of which registration was sought, at least for the Cypriot public,” the court added.

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26 November 2018   The EU General Court annulled a series of European Union Intellectual Property Office decisions centring on halloumi cheese, in four judgments delivered on Friday, November 23.