And it only took four lawyers, six judges, two judge rapporteurs, one Advocate General, two registrars and a phalanx of other support staff four years to reach that conclusion.
The EU’s Court of Justice today agreed with a previous ruling that chocolate maker Lindt can’t trademark its gold-wrapped chocolate rabbit.
Typical…
It concurred with the previous ruling, which said that “as regards the shape of a sitting or crouching rabbit, that shape can be considered to be a typical shape for chocolate rabbits.”
Further, on the packaging which Lindt said was ‘distinctive’, “it is common to decorate chocolate animals or their wrapping with bows, ribbons and bells and that, therefore, small bells and bows are common elements in the case of chocolate animals.”
Four years of legal fees and court wages well spent? As the courts grapple with a backlog on cases involving credit card fees, billion euro cartel fines, fundamental rights and equality, anti-terrorism measures?
To play us out, it’s Chas ‘n’ Dave’s immortal classic, ‘Rabbit’. Gives me 2m22s to climb down from this rather lofty horse.
BM
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