Last June, the General Court of the European Union (EGC)
announced one of its most resounding decisions to date, as it
confirmed the nullity of the Adidas Community trademark, consisting
of three parallel bands, due to the fact that the German company
did not demonstrate the distinctive character of it throughout the
territory of the European Union (EU).
The legal battle for the three stripes is part of the dispute
that Adidas and the Belgian company, Shoe Branding Europe BVBA,
began in 2009, when the latter tried to register their two lines
against the European Union. In this case, Adidas objected before de
European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on the grounds
that they closely resembled its three parallel bands and, based on
this claim, the EUIPO denied registration to the Belgian company on
two occasions (2015 and 2016). It is important to remark that
Adidas had not proceeded to register its three lines before the EU
until this point.
