Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2000:246
Date: 2000-10-26
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Concepts: Marks devoid of any distinctive character
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Provisional data;United States

Summary of the Judgment 
Community trade mark — Definition of a Community trade mark and obtaining a 
Community trade mark — Absolute grounds for refusal — Marks devoid of any 
distinctive character— 'TRUSTEDLINK' 
(Council Regulation No 40/94, Art. 7(1)(b» 
II - 3525 
SUMMARY — CASE T-345/99 
Under Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation 
No 40/94 on the Community trade mark, 
'trade marks which are devoid of any 
distinctive character' are not to be regis­
tered. In that regard, the term TRUST-
EDLINK, registration of which has been 
applied for in respect of electronic com­
merce services and other related goods and 
services, is not capable of being registered 
as a Community trade mark since it is 
devoid of any distinctive character. The 
sign in question is made up of two words, 
one of which is generic and merely desig­
nates an essential technical feature of 
electronic commerce and the second of 
which indicates the desired quality thereof, 
in this case reliability. Coupling them 
together without any graphic or semantic 
modification does not imbue them with any 
additional characteristic such as to render 
the sign, taken as a whole, capable of 
distinguishing the goods and services of one 
undertaking from those of other undertak­
ings. 
(see paras 36-38) 
II - 3526