We are pleased to inform our members that ECTA has filed its second Amicus Curiae Brief in the case WEERGAVE VAN HET GEZICHT VAN EEN PERSOON (fig.), R 50/2024-G, pending before the Grand Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (GBoA EUIPO).

The case regards whether a photographic image of a person’s face can serve as a distinctive and non-descriptive trade mark under EU law, in light of the perceived contrast between the Office’s approach and that of the Board of Appeals’, since the Office appears to systematically refuse registration of trade marks containing the face of a person, while in recent years, the Board of Appeal has ruled, by various decisions, that EU trade mark applications containing or consisting in a person’s face are not inherently devoid of distinctive character.

We wish to extend our gratitude to the ECTA Amicus Curiae Task Force and to the volunteers of the Law Committee who co-wrote the brief, for their dedicated efforts in compiling the recommendations for the Grand Board.