News

The Obelix decision of the European Court of Justice  (T-24/25) marks an interesting development in the treatment of the ® symbol under European trade mark law.

 

Until now, this symbol had played a relatively limited role in European case law. Unlike in US practice, its use is neither required nor constitutive of rights under EU law, and the courts have traditionally attached only marginal importance to it.

 

However, in this case, the General Court of the European Union expressly criticised the EUIPO for failing to take into account the fact that numerous merchandising products bore the sign OBELIX®.

 

According to the General Court, the presence of the ® symbol is likely to indicate to the relevant public that the sign constitutes a registered trade mark and that it is used as an indication of commercial origin.

 

The significance of this decision extends beyond the Obélix case alone. In practice, rights holders are regularly faced with the difficulty of demonstrating that a fictional character, or the title of a work, is perceived as a trade mark and not merely as a reference to the work from which it is derived.

 

Without making the ® symbol a prerequisite for protection, the General Court thus appears to recognise its genuine probative value, treating it as a relevant indicator for assessing whether a sign is perceived as a trade mark, even though its use remains purely optional under EU law.

 

A small victory for the ® symbol, which continues to defy the notion that it is merely a minor detail.