The European Court of Justice has dismissed an appeal from a company seeking to register three EU trademarks to use the “I ♥” sign on items of clothing.
German firm sprd.netrd.net had been seeking the trademark with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for the left side of the chest, on an inside label or on the back of the neck of t-shirts, sweat-shirts and pull-overs.
But the EUIPO rejected the applications for registration on the grounds that the sign would be understood immediately as the expression ‘I love’.
The slogan and the positions that had been applied for “lacked distinctive character”, which is a crucial requirement for the office to grant protected status.
The EUIPO argued that the marking and its positioning were therefore not unique enough to allow sprd.netrd.net products “to be distinguished from those of other undertakings.”
The German company appealed the EUIPO decision, but on Wednesday lost that challenge at the ECJ.
According to the General Court, EUIPO “did not err” in its conclusions when refusing to grant the trademark.
Across the Atlantic, the New York state government has repeatedly attempted to uphold its trademark on its I ❤ NY slogan.
Famously designed by graphic designer Milton Glaser in the back of a taxi in 1976 for the marketing firm Wells, Rich, and Greene, the slogan has been used to promote the state since 1977.
Back in 2005, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that the state had filed nearly 3,000 objections against imitators.