The German Federal Patent Court (BPatG) has recently
strengthened Nivea-producer Beiersdorf's abstract color mark
"Blue" in Germany (October 18, 2019 - 27 W (pat) 1/17).
Beiersdorf and its UK competitor Unilever had fought over the
German trademark's existence for more than ten years.
In 2005, Beiersdorf had filed the abstract color mark blue
(Pantone 280 C). Since a color as such may usually not be
monopolized by one company, the Hamburg-based cosmetics giant
claimed that the blue tone had acquired distinctiveness among the
addressed public as a trademark for cosmetics, namely skin and
personal care products. The trademark was registered by the
German Patent and Trade Mark Office (Deutsches Patent- und
Markenamt, DPMA) in 2007 for that category of goods. Unilever
immediately applied for cancellation of the trademark at the DPMA,
claiming that the requirements for acquired distinctiveness of the
mark were not met. The DPMA agreed with these lines of argument
