Emoticons and emojis alone cannot be EU trademarks

The Board of Appeal of the EUIPO upheld the examiner’s decision for refusal of the following figurative mark, representing an emoticon, on absolute grounds – lack of distinctive character:

The mark is filed for various services in classes 36 and 37 such as financial, real estate, and construction-related services.

According to the Office, this emoticon represents an informal sign that means “I love you”, used to express feelings in typed communication. Because of this, consumers would not perceive it as a source of trade origin but rather as an advertising message or pure decorative element, neither of which can represent a trademark.

In the context of the services in question, the sign can express satisfaction with the services due to which it lacks any distinctive character.

Source: Alicante news.

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• Source: https://intellectualpropertyplanet.wordpress.com/2023/07/12/emoticons-and-emojis-alone-cannot-be-eu-trademarks/