Trade Marks: Distinctiveness – Distinctly Necessary To Succeed?

Recent weeks have seen the rejection of two trade mark applications, at EU and UK level, on the basis that they were just not distinctive enough. So what does it take to make a trade mark distinctive and why does incorporating a logo or unusual font not always provide the ticket to clearance?

Rejection of application

On 20 May 2016, German company Item Industrietechnik GmbH ('Item') applied to register the figurative EU trade mark, "Efuse", ?at the EU Intellectual Property Office ('EUIPO').

They sought registration in Class 7 for goods such as, electric generators, motors and engines and in Class 9 for goods such as apparatus and instruments for conducting, switching... and controlling electricity. The EUIPO examiner rejected the application in Class 7 and for such goods in Class 9 on the basis that the mark would be understood as meaning "electric fuse" and therefore was descriptive of the goods covered. Additionally, the examiner decided that the graphic