Judgment of the General Court in cases T-336/08, T-337/08, T-346/08, T-395/08, T-395/08, T-13/09

General Court of the European Union PRESS RELEASE No 124/10 Luxembourg, 17 December 2010 Press and Information Judgments in Cases T-336/08, T-337/08, T-346/08 and T-395/08 Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG v OHIM and in Case T-13/09 August Storck KG v OHIM The shape of a chocolate rabbit or reindeer with a red ribbon cannot be registered as a Community trade mark Those shapes and those of a small bell with a red ribbon, a chocolate rabbit and a chocolate mouse are devoid of any distinctive character In accordance with the Community Trade Mark Regulation1 , a Community trade mark may consist of any signs capable of being represented graphically, such as words, designs, the shape of goods and their packaging. However, a mark which is devoid of any distinctive character cannot, in principle, be registered. Between February 2004 and November 2005, Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG filed before OHIM (Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market) four applications to register as Community trade marks the following three-dimensional signs: the shape of a chocolate rabbit with a red ribbon, in the colours red, gold and brown (T-336/08); the shape of a chocolate reindeer with a red ribbon, in the colours red, gold and brown (T-337/08); the shape of a small bell with a red ribbon, in the colours red and gold (T-346/08), and the shape of a chocolate rabbit in the colour gold (T-395/08). On 10 June 2005, August Storck AG filed an application for registration of a...