It has been a long-established practice that trade mark applications are made to cover a trade classification so an application for (for example) a paint would be made under Class 2, which includes a number of similar products, such as rust and wood preservatives.
However, following a ruling by the Advocate General (AG) of the Court of Justice of the European Union, this practice may well have to change. The reason for this is that the AG has issued a ruling that an application on the basis of a category heading may be illegitimate.
The logic behind this approach was that whilst a classification based on a trade mark class heading may be sufficiently clear and precise to enable the scope of the protection offered for a trade mark, it may well not prove to be sufficiently precise.
Since some of the classes are very wide indeed (class 9 contains a list of dozens of products), the impact may be that a more detailed approach to the registration of trade marks may have to apply in the future.
It is important to note that an opinion such as this is only persuasive in law - it does not bind the court. Accordingly, it will require the judgment of the court to determine definitively if the interpretation of the law has been changed.
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