Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2001:119
Date: 2001-04-05
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Second Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Concepts: Word marks;General
Procedure: Action for annulment - successful
Origin: Austria

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade 
mark — Absolute grounds for refusing registration — Trade marks which consist 
exclusively of signs or indications which may serve to designate the characteristics of a 
product — Term 'EASYBANK' 
(Council Regulation No 40/94, Art. 7(1)(c)) 
II - 1259 
SUMMARY — CASE T-87/00 
2. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade 
mark — Absolute grounds for refusing registration — Marks devoid of distinctive 
character — Determination whether a trade mark has a distinctive character — 
Criteria 
(Council Regulation No 40/94, Art. 7(l)(b) and (3)) 
1. Under Article 7(l)(c) of Regulation 
No 40/94 on the Community trade 
mark, registration is refused for 'trade 
marks which consist exclusively of 
signs or indications which may serve, 
in trade, to designate the kind, quality, 
quantity, intended purpose, value, geo­
graphical origin or the time... of ren­
dering of the service, or other charac­
teristics of the [latter]'. In that connec­
tion, the term 'EASYBANK', registra­
tion of which is requested in respect of 
the services of an on-line bank, and 
electronic banking services in particu­
lar, cannot be regarded as being exclu­
sively descriptive in character, since the 
term does not as such enable potential 
customers to identify immediately and 
precisely either the specific banking 
services capable of being provided or, 
a fortiori, one or more of their char­
acteristics. Therefore, the link between 
the meaning of the term 'EASYBANK' 
on the one hand and the services 
capable of being provided by an on­
line bank on the other, appears to be 
too vague and indeterminate to confer 
a descriptive character on that term in 
relation to those services. 
(see paras 22, 31-32) 
2. Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation No 40/94 
on the Community trade mark, accord­
ing to which registration is to be 
refused to 'trade marks which are 
devoid of any distinctive character', 
requires the examiner and, in appro­
priate cases, the Board of Appeal, to 
examine — in the context of an a 
priori examination apart from any 
actual use of the sign for the purposes 
of Article 7(3) — whether there 
appears to be no possibility that the 
sign in question may be capable of 
distinguishing, in the eyes of the public 
to which it is addressed, the products 
or services referred to from those of a 
different origin, where the public will 
be called upon to make its choice in 
commerce. 
(see para. 40) 
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