TRADEMARK | The EU General Court on geographical descriptiveness of country names as trademarks

On 16 July 2025, the General Court of the European Union (the GC) handed down its decision in case T-105/23 (Iceland Foods Ltd. v. EUIPO) concerning the descriptiveness of the county name “ICELAND” as a trademark filed by the supermarket chain Iceland Foods Ltd. (the Trademark). The GC found that country names used as trademarks are considered descriptive under Article 7(1)(c) of the Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the European Union trademark, when they refer to a location that, at the time the application for registration is submitted, is associated with the category of goods and services in question in the minds of the relevant class of persons, or when it is reasonable to assume that such an association may be established in the future. The GC has clarified that Iceland’s green‑energy profile, industrial capacity, trade and tourism links made it plausible that consumers would interpret the trademark as an indication of the origin or qualities of the relevant goods and services.

Newsletter n. 110 – August/September 2025