Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2001:162
Date: 2001-06-14
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: Austria

Summary of the Judgment 
Community trade marks — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — 
Absolute grounds for refusing registration — Marks composed exclusively of signs or 
indications which may serve to designate the characteristics of a product — Word marks 
UNIVERSALTELEFONBUCH and UNIVERSALKOMMUNIKATIONSVERZEICH-
NIS 
(Council Regulation No 40/94, Art. 7(1)(c)) 
II - 1705 
SUMMARY — JOINED CASES T-357/99 AND T-358/99 
The signs mentioned in Article 7(1)(c) of 
Regulation No 40/94 on the Community 
trade mark are signs which exclusively 
define or indicate the goods or services in 
issue by reference to their nature, proper­
ties, qualities or their intended use and 
which are regarded as incapable of per­
forming the essential function of a mark, 
namely that of identifying the origin of the 
goods or services, thus enabling the con­
sumer who acquired them to repeat the 
experience, if it proves to be positive, or to 
avoid it, if it proves to be negative, on the 
occasion of a subsequent acquisition. The 
signs UNIVERSALTELEFONBUCH and 
UNIVERSALKOMMUNIKATIONSVER-
ZEICHNIS cannot constitute a Community 
trade mark for 'recorded memory media for 
data processing installations and appara­
tus, in particular CD-ROMs; printed mat­
ter, reference works; publishing services, in 
particular the publication of texts, books, 
magazines, newspapers; and editing of 
written texts' since they enable members 
of the public concerned, in the present case 
the average German-speaking consumer 
who is reasonably well informed and 
reasonably observant and circumspect, to 
establish immediately and without further 
reflection a concrete and direct association 
with the goods and services covered by the 
applications for registration of the disputed 
trade marks. 
(see paras 23, 25-31) 
II - 1706