Unconventional marks in Europe since SIECKMANN, LIBERTEL and SHIELD MARK

Between December 2002 and November 2003, the European Court of Justice
issued three ground-breaking decisions on the registrability of unconventional
trademarks. Mark Holah of Field Fisher Waterhouse in London explains how SIECKMANN,
LIBERTEL and SHIELD MARK have narrowed the boundaries of trademark
protection in the European Union by making it a lot more difficult to register
smells, colours and sounds. He also considers further decisions that have since
helped to draw a clearer picture of what can and cannot be registered.