On January 18, 2008, the Board of Appeal refused to register a CTM for SIIMPEL for “electronic and optical communication and imaging systems and components” in class 9, for non distinctiveness, stating that SIIMPEL was just a minor modification of the Dutch word “simpel”, meaning “simple”.
The Board considered that the mere duplication of one letter of an ordinary word, which can be perceived as a marketing gimmick, is not enough to create a trademark. Moreover, the doubling of the I letter may lead consumers to understand the sign as “very simple”, and so reinforces rather than detracts from the descriptive notion of the sign.
This clearly shows the difficulty to register a trademark whom distinctiveness is to be mixed with the languages of the Community to consider and the low effect of single letters added.