A bid by August Storck KG to secure the European Union (EU) registration of trademarks for the boiled sweets brand Werther’s Original has been thrown out by the European Court of Justice’s Court of First Instance.

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The marks were a three-dimensional shape representing light brown coloured sweet (akin to a Werther Original) and a twisted sweet wrapper shape.


The initial trademark authorisation application was rejected by the EU’s Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), OHIM. It said the marks lacked enough distinctive character to “distinguish the goods” from others. Storck appealed, but its views have again been rejected, this time by the Court of First Instance.

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