Adidas has been dealt a major blow as the General Court of the European Union has ruled that its distinctive mark with three parallel stripes lacks sufficient distinctive character to be protected as a single European trademark. The ruling upheld an earlier EUIPO ruling from 2016, following an appeal by Belgian company Shoe Branding Europe.
The court found that Adidas had failed to prove that the sign in question had acquired distinctiveness in all EU member states. According to the ruling, the three lines - despite their global recognition - were considered to be a «simple, ordinary pattern» that did not sufficiently differentiate the company's products from those of other companies.
The decision follows a long-running legal battle between Adidas and Shoe Branding Europe. The Belgian company had already managed to register a trademark with two parallel stripes in 2009, while Adidas challenged the registration, claiming that it misleads consumers due to its similarity to its own trademark. However, the CJEU did not accept Adidas' arguments, stressing that the existence of variations or different applications of the motif was not sufficient to establish unitary distinctiveness in the European market.
Although the company has the possibility to appeal, the ruling underlines a crucial legal principle: the acquisition of distinctiveness must be proven throughout the European Union and not only in selected markets. As a result, Adidas cannot currently claim exclusive protection for the three-stripe mark at EU level.
