ECJ judges set precedent in scent bottle shape trademarking

The ability of perfume companies to trademark a distinctively shaped bottle or other packaging has taken a knock at the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Its Court of First Instance has rejected a bid by Germany’s ars Parfum Creation & Consulting, of Cologne, to gain EU-wide trademark rights for a three-dimensional sign consisting of the shape of its spray bottle.

The bottle is unusual, being long, cylindrical and narrow, a little like a test tube. But this distinctiveness was not sufficient for judges to protect the design as a trademark. It “did not diverge sufficiently from the norms of the perfume sector to justify [registration],” said the court.