{"id":24606,"date":"2023-07-14T14:06:19","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T14:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606"},"modified":"2023-07-18T08:19:22","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T08:19:22","slug":"registrazione-del-packaging-come-marchio-di-forma-la-cassazione-conferma-la-validita-del-marchio-tic-tac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/flash-news\/italian-supreme-court-upholds-validity-of-shape-mark-for-tic-tac-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Supreme Court upholds validity of shape mark for Tic Tac box"},"content":{"rendered":"

A ruling of the Italian Supreme Court in a dispute concerning the shape mark covering the Tic Tac mints’ box confirms that trademark registration for packaging offers a valid defence against copycats and unfair competition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Registrazione

The box registered EU-wide by Ferrero as a shape mark.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The first civil section of the Italian Supreme Court issued a ruling on 28 April 2023, published on 11 May 2023, in proceedings between Italy\u2019s Ferrero S.p.A. (Ferrero) and Polish company Mocca Spol. S.R.O. (Mocca).<\/p>\n

The District Court, and later the Court of Appeal, of Turin had already ruled that the sale in Italy by Mocca of boxes of mints bearing the \u201cBliki\u201d trademark had not only infringed the shape marks held by Ferrero for the boxes of its \u201cTic Tac\u201d mints, but also amounted to unfair competition.<\/p>\n

Mocca appealed the decision of the Turin Court of Appeal before the Italian Supreme Court on several grounds, all of which the higher court struck down as either inadmissible or unfounded.<\/p>\n

In one of the pleas in particular, Mocca maintained that the shape mark owned by Ferrero for the box for \u201cTic Tac\u201d mints was not registrable under current trademark law, firstly because the shape was functional, and secondly because the shape of the box added \u201csubstantial value\u201d to the product, changing the product\u2019s identity and increasing its value.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling confirmed that as far as applicable trademark law is concerned, a \u201cfunctional shape\u201d is a shape that is indispensable for obtaining a functional result; in the case at issue, the shape of the box for which Ferrero holds trademark rights is not the only possible shape fulfilling the function of packaging mints, therefore it is neither \u201cfunctional\u201d nor does it confer substantial value to the product; the court concluded that Ferrero\u2019s trademark registration for the \u201cTic Tac\u201d box is valid.<\/p>\n

The decision also pointed out that it is precisely because the shape of the \u201cTic Tac\u201d box is not the only possible shape for a box of mints, that such a shape allows consumers to distinguish the origin of the product; the box therefore possesses \u201cdistinctive character\u201d, which is a requirement for trademark registration.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court rejected the appeal entirely and ordered the appellant to bear the expenses; Mocca will therefore no longer be able to sell in Italy its \u201cBliki\u201d product in the contested box, and a penalty is to be applied for each box sold after the date set by the court.<\/p>\n

The ruling confirms the crucial importance of registering packaging as a trademark to fight counterfeiting and unfair competition especially in the food sector, a particularly crowded market where packaging is decisive in guiding consumers but is also very easy to imitate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A ruling of the Italian Supreme Court in a dispute concerning the shape mark covering the Tic Tac mints’ box confirms that trademark registration for packaging offers a valid defence against copycats and unfair competition. The first civil section of the Italian Supreme Court issued a ruling on 28 April 2023, published on 11 May […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":24612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRegistrazione del packaging come marchio di forma, sentenza Tic Tac<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"La registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma offre una valida difesa da contraffazione e concorrenza sleale: la sentenza Tic Tac.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma, sentenza Tic Tac\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"La registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma offre una valida difesa da contraffazione e concorrenza sleale: la sentenza Tic Tac.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-14T14:06:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-18T08:19:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Tic-tac-thmb.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"265\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"163\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Ercoli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"Intellectual Property since 1882\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Tic-tac-thmb.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Tic-tac-thmb.png\",\"width\":265,\"height\":163,\"caption\":\"registrazione packaging Tic Tac\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606\",\"name\":\"Registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma, sentenza Tic Tac\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-14T14:06:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-18T08:19:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/#\/schema\/person\/3988cde84153da4b745510f0712d395b\"},\"description\":\"La registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma offre una valida difesa da contraffazione e concorrenza sleale: la sentenza Tic Tac.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma: la Cassazione conferma validit\u00e0 marchio Tic Tac\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/#\/schema\/person\/3988cde84153da4b745510f0712d395b\",\"name\":\"Laura Ercoli\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40352aead1e319e41371a554b61ab9b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40352aead1e319e41371a554b61ab9b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laura Ercoli\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/author\/lercoli\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma, sentenza Tic Tac","description":"La registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma offre una valida difesa da contraffazione e concorrenza sleale: la sentenza Tic Tac.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma, sentenza Tic Tac","og_description":"La registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma offre una valida difesa da contraffazione e concorrenza sleale: la sentenza Tic Tac.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606","article_published_time":"2023-07-14T14:06:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-18T08:19:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":265,"height":163,"url":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Tic-tac-thmb.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laura Ercoli","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/","name":"","description":"Intellectual Property since 1882","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Tic-tac-thmb.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Tic-tac-thmb.png","width":265,"height":163,"caption":"registrazione packaging Tic Tac"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606","name":"Registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma, sentenza Tic Tac","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2023-07-14T14:06:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-18T08:19:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/#\/schema\/person\/3988cde84153da4b745510f0712d395b"},"description":"La registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma offre una valida difesa da contraffazione e concorrenza sleale: la sentenza Tic Tac.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/?p=24606#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Registrazione del packaging come marchio di forma: la Cassazione conferma validit\u00e0 marchio Tic Tac"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/#\/schema\/person\/3988cde84153da4b745510f0712d395b","name":"Laura Ercoli","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40352aead1e319e41371a554b61ab9b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40352aead1e319e41371a554b61ab9b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Laura Ercoli"},"url":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/author\/lercoli\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24606"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24606"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24797,"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24606\/revisions\/24797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sib.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}