The ECJ gives detailed explanations on issues concerning colour trade mark registration
In a judgment handed down on 24 June 2004, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dealt with the registration of colour trade marks following a reference for preliminary ruling made by the German Bundespatentgericht.
The ECJ gave a series of detailed explanations on the registration of colour marks in its judgment, thus completing the existing case law on the question. It stated, among other things, that, in order to constitute a sign capable of being registered as a trade mark, colours or combinations of colours must in fact represent a sign "in the context in which they are used", while at the same time the application for registration must include "a systematic arrangement associating the colours concerned in a predetermined and uniform way".
