TRADEMARK | The EUIPO Grand Board of Appeal on the registrability of book titles as trademarks

Office (EUIPO) issued its judgment in joint cases R 1719/2019-G and R 1922/2019-G, dismissing the appeals by The Estate of the Late Sonia Brownell Orwell against the partial refusal of two EU trademark applications filed in 2018 for the word trademarks “ANIMAL FARM” and “1984”. On descriptiveness under Article 7(1)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 of 14 June 2017 on the European Union trademark (EUTMR), the GB found that both signs are descriptive since they constitute “common knowledge” among the relevant public as titles of George Orwell’s novels and that they describe the thematic content of the relevant goods and services. On distinctiveness under Article 7(1)(b) EUTMR, the GB held that “ANIMAL FARM” and “1984” are famous enough to be immediately perceived as titles of literary works rather than as indicators of commercial origin, thus lacking distinctiveness.

Newsletter n. 120 – July 2026