Batman won a trademark dispute in the EU

The General Court of the European Union has ruled in the case T-735/21 – Aprile and Commerciale Italiana v EUIPO, DC Comics, which concerns a dispute for a trademark.

DC Comics, the owner of one of the most famous superhero characters such as Batman and Superman, successfully registered the following EU trademark in 1998:

In 2019, the Italian company Commerciale Italiana filed an application for a declaration of invalidity (for goods related to clothing and carnival items) of this mark based on absolute grounds – lack of distinctive character and descriptiveness.

The EUIPO and the Board of Appeal dismissed the invalidity because of which the case went to the General Court.

The Court upheld the EUIPO position on the case. When it comes to the lack of distinctiveness, the Court considered that such a claim cannot be grounded only based on the fact that Batman’s logo is associated with the well-known superhero and his appearance. On the contrary, the Court stated that consumers clearly associate this logo with its owner DC Comics, which fulfills the primary function of every mark i.e. to identify a particular commercial origin.

Regarding the claimed descriptiveness, the Court concluded that it was not sufficiently established by Commerciale Italiana. The fact that the superhero Batman wears this bat logo on his famous costume does not mean any descriptiveness for goods such as clothes and carnival items.