The EU Court withdraws the registration of orange trademark as a distinctive sign of Veuve Clicquot.

These days it is a defeat for the LVMH group in the long battle carried out to maintain the registration as a trademark of the orange shade typical of the Veuve Clicquot brand. On 6 March the European Court sided with Lidl in the appeal presented to annul the registration of Veuve Clicquot's "orange" trademark which constitutes the distinctive sign of one of the most renowned champagne brands in the world, deeming it insufficient to demonstrate its distinctive capacity in the eyes. of consumers in all EU countries, in particular with regard to Greece and Portugal.

A still evident difficulty with respect to multinational brands is precisely that of being able to demonstrate the geographical extension of the distinctive character of the brand, especially in the case in which it consists of an element other than a name. The adoption of brands consisting of the shape of the product or its packaging as well as the color is frequent in the food & beverage sector, representing an important element in company marketing strategies to make one's product more "desirable" and distinguish it from the competition.

Commenting on the news of the Veuve Clicquot case, recalling another exemplary case in food & beverage, were Francesca La Rocca Sena and Elisabetta Berti Arnoaldi, Partners of the Sena & Partner law firm , one of the most established professional firms in the field of intellectual and industrial property. “ That of Veuve Clicquot's “orange” trademark is not the only case in which it is clear that obtaining and maintaining registration of a trademark in the EU based on the secondary meaning acquired by the sign is an arduous process .

In fact, it is frequent that, as in the case of Veuve Clicquot, a sign is endowed with distinctive capacity in one country, but not in another. Or it is at a national level, but not at a European level. For a case similar to that of Veuve Clicquot's "orange" trademark, we can recall the case of the trademark consisting of the 'bunny' shape of a Lindt chocolate product, declared invalid at European level as it was deemed devoid of distinctive character, but instead considered valid by the Swiss Federal Court which banned the production and distribution of the 'chocolate bunnies' of the German supermarket chain Lidl, considering them to interfere with the Lindt brand, also due to the similarity of the products."