The Tel Aviv District Court has upheld a decision by the Israel Patent Office to refuse Eveready’s Trademark Application Number TM 204, 832 for shaving creams and 204,499 for razors and shavers for the slogan “Free your skin”.
However, the court has over-turned the assumption that slogans are always descriptive or laudatory and therefore invariably non-registerable, ruling that they should be examined like any other mark. Consequently, the current Commissioner or Patents and Trademarks Adv. Assa Kling has cancelled Patent Office Circular MN 29 that held that slogans cannot be registered.
BACKGROUND
On August 28, 2010, then Deputy Commissioner Noah Shalev Shmulovits upheld a decision of the trademark examiner, that Israel Trademark Number was invalid for registration.
Shmulovits based his decision on Israel Patent Office Circular Number M.N. 29 in which then Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks Dr Meir Noam ruled that slogans could generally not be registered.
Since then, there have been a number of exceptions. See for example party-like-a-rockstar, im-lovin-it, shufersal, its-all-for-you, bleach-free and diamond in your pocket for specific rulings.
Eveready appealed the decision to the courts. In a well-reasoned ruling, Judge Yitzhak Anber has ruled that slogans may often be laudatory or descriptive, but should be considered as simply multi-word marks and judged on their merits.
21488-05/11 Eveready vs. Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Tel Aviv District Court by Judge Yitzhak Anber, 8 December 2011.
