SKETCH THIS: When Art Meets Trademark Law

Mercedes-Benz just learned that not all roads lead to trademark registration!

The EU General Court rejected their attempt to trademark a hand-drawn sketch of an off-road vehicle in a decision that every brand manager should bookmark.ย (Case Tโ€‘400/24)

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ? The Court wasn’t judging the artistic merit (that’s copyright’s job!) but whether consumers would recognize it as distinctly “Mercedes-Benz.”

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐๐ข๐œ๐ญ: Too generic = No trademark protection

๐Š๐ž๐ฒ ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž๐š๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐๐ฌ: Your mark needs to scream “THIS IS OURS” โ€” not just “this is pretty.” Even sophisticated automotive consumers couldn’t connect this sketch to Mercedes specifically.

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง-๐ž๐ฎ๐ซ๐จ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง: Before filing your next trademark application, ask yourself โ€” would your customers immediately know this mark belongs to YOU and nobody else?