By Assaf Joseph Naim, Adv.
The Israel Supreme Court has recently issued a precedented ruling accepting a lawsuit against an importer of a chocolate company that manufactured chocolates in the shape of an acorn.
The plaintiffs, August Strock KG are the owners of Israel Trademark No. 140,273 for the Toffee packaging, filed a lawsuit against an importer of a chocolate company that manufactured acorn shaped chocolates under the brand “Chocodan”. After considering the evidence and merits, the Supreme Court ruled that the Chocodan manufacturers have indeed infringed plaintiffs’ intellectual property rights on the said-marks.
Following this ruling, the Israel Trademark Registrar has issued today new guidelines detailing the cumulative conditions upon which, he may consider allowing the registration of a 3-D trademark in Israel:
In order for the Registrar to consider evidence, the applicant would have to file evidence proving:
1. That the character he wishes to register, serves in fact as a trademark;
2. That the character he wishes to register has no aesthetic or viable functional roll;
3. Through the use of the mark, the mark has acquired distinctiveness, proving that this is a special case;
In the case that all three demands are met, and that the mark is accepted for registration, a short notice will be added notifying that the said-trademark is a three dimensional (3-D) trademark.
