Teva loses TM appeal over ‘French version’ of slogan
Drug company Teva has lost an appeal over its bid to trademark two word signs, after the tenth chamber of the EU General Court ruled in favour of the European Union IP Office (EUIPO) yesterday, July 8.
Teva filed applications at the EUIPO for the word signs ‘Moins de migraine pour vivre mieux’ and ‘Weniger Migräne. Mehr vom Leben’ as EU trademarks for use on information relating to its migraine medication in August 2018, which was refused.
EUIPO’s board of appeal dismissed the appeal brought by Teva a year later, finding that the marks applied for were “devoid of distinctive character” and that the marks are perceived by the public as “promotional slogans relating to the quality of the goods and services in question”.
Teva disputed the definition of the relevant public adopted by the board of appeal and the board’s argument that the public “will perceive the mark applied for as an indication of the commercial origin of the goods and services in question”.
The company also entered a second plea, arguing that the board of appeal “infringed the principle of equal treatment by erroneously departing from its decision-making practice” because it had registered the EU trademark ‘Less Migraine, More Moments’. Teva claimed that this was the English version of the marks it had applied for, and which it had relied upon in support of its action before the board of appeal.
Teva also argued the applied-for mark “gives hope to the relevant public, making it dream and letting that public imagine to what extent alleviation from migraines could improve life”.
The court, however, found that the board of appeal was correct in finding that the mark applied for was “devoid of any distinctive character”, and in its finding that the mark applied for would be “perceived by the relevant public as a promotional slogan indicating that the goods and services in question may be useful in alleviating migraines and thus improve quality of life”.
It also dismissed Teva’s second plea, finding that Teva could not rely on the EUIPO’s previous decisions to invalidate the board of appeal’s conclusion.
The court ordered Teva to pay the EUIPO’s legal costs.
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