Nestlé may feel it did not get much of a break from a recent Advocate General’s opinion which undermines its hopes of registering the shape of its Kit Kat chocolate bar; meanwhile, there is better news for Lego’s registration of its ‘manikin’ figure.
Shape trade marks
IP Ownership
A shape is capable of being registered as a trade mark. A well-known example is the Coca-Cola bottle.
There are some exceptions peculiar to shape marks which cause many applications to fail, namely signs which consist exclusively of a shape which:
results from the nature of the goods themselves; or
is necessary to obtain a technical result; or
gives substantial value to the goods.
The aim of these exceptions is to prevent trade mark protection from granting a monopoly over technical solutions or functional characteristics of a product which may be more appropriately protected by other means.