The General Court reinforces its jurisprudence regarding the protection

of trademarks consisting of color combinations.

On 11 June 2025, the General Court of the European Union (GC) dismissed an appeal brought by OMV AG against the decision of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), which refused to register a trademark consisting exclusively of the colours Gentian blue (RAL 5010) and Yellow green (RAL 6018).

The Austrian company sought to protect this color combination to identify products and services in the fuel and energy sectors, as well as service stations.

The GC confirmed the EUIPO’s decision by maintaining that this colour scheme does not meet the requirement of distinctiveness as required by Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation 2017/1001. In particular, the Court declared:

• The colours blue and green (even in the claimed, specific shades) are common in the energy sector and service station industry.
• There is not sufficient evidence that consumers associate this colour combination with the commercial origin of OMV´s products and services.
• The public’s perception of colours, per se, is different from verbal or figurative marks: this requires a stronger burden of proof to prove distinctiveness.

Although OMV exhibited surveys suggesting recognition of this colour combination in Austria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, the Court indicated that this evidence would only be relevant for an application based on distinctiveness acquired through use (Art. 7(3)), but not to justify intrinsic distinctiveness.

OMV will not be able to register the blue-green combination as a trademark in the EU for the claimed goods and services unless it manages to demonstrate, at a later stage, that this combination has acquired a distinctive character through use in the European market.

The case file will be returned to the EUIPO to assess whether the trademark has acquired a distinctive character through use (Article 7(3) EUTMR), a possibility which OMV may still explore.

Link to the decision: click here

July 2, 2025