Nestlé’s community trademark application rejected by EU General Court

Nestlé’s community trademark application rejected by EU General Court

The slogan ‘Nourishing personal health’ has been rejected by the EU General Court after it was deemed a “promotional message” lacking a distinctive character.

The Court agreed with the OHIM that the mark was “banal” and would not indicate the origin of the services in the minds of the relevant public.

The applied was filed in 2011 for  health and food nutrition consultation services, diagnostic apparatuses and educational services.

Nestlé had appealed against the OHIM Fourth Board of Appeal’s 2014 ruling to reject the application. Nestlé had argued that the phrase was distinctive due to the “incoherence of the mark” arguing that “One cannot nourish health”. The Court however agreed with OHIM that the phrase was merely promotional.

The Court stated:“The use of the verb ‘to nourish’ together with the expression ‘personal health’ is in no way incoherent or original given ... [that] the use of the verb reinforces the promotional message conveyed by the mark applied for. Consequently, the board of appeal was right to find that the mark applied for conveyed a simple, banal promotional message extolling the merits of the goods and services at issue and would not be perceived as an indication of the commercial origin of those goods and services”.

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