General Court To Coca-Cola: Not ‘Shapely' Enough!

Coca-Cola, commonly known as Coke is the soft-drink most of us have loved as children and continue to like as adults still. The drink has been in circulation since last one century making it one of the globally reputed brands. Coca-Cola has several word and device related trademark registration. However, it wanted to increase the ambit of its rights and applied for shape registration of metallic, glass and plastic bottles before the Office for Harmonization of Internal Market (OHIM).

The OHIM rejected this application on the grounds that the shape 'contour bottle with fluting' was not distinctive enough in relation to the goods for which the application had been submitted. This order was appealed before the General Court. The General Court upheld the OHIM's decision and ruled that the shape of the bottle was simply a variant of the bottles available in the market; no evidence had been submitted to show that the shape had gained any secondary meaning among the