The Second Board of Appeal of the OHIM has decided in Case R-1088/2010-2 that the mark consisting in the single letter ‘W’ (not really stylized as it was rather close of a word mark – the picture below is not the mark in concerns) should be allowed registration in respect of ‘transport; packaging and storage of goods; travel arrangement; services for providing food and drink; temporary accommodation’.
We had our eyes wide open when reading the decision… The OHIM has repeatedly been very strict (do we dare to say ‘hostile’?) to trademarks consisting in a single letter – and for those interested we had written a deep analysis of the situation on the Community level for TRADEMARK WORLD.
Does this decision announce a new turn? That’s not for sure as it would have to be confirmed by the Court to have a better idea on this. But still, the arguments of the appellant could be used in similar situations, especially the point that the contested decision did not establish that this particular letter indicated the features of the services at hands, nor that it was generic for them or had a meaning in relation thereto.
