1.

The following shall not be registered or, if registered, shall be liable to be declared invalid: signs which cannot constitute a trade mark; trade marks which are devoid of any distinctive character; trade marks which consist exclusively of signs or indications which may serve, in trade, to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, or the time of production of the goods or of rendering of the service, or other characteristics of the goods or services; trade marks which consist exclusively of signs or indications which have become customary in the current language or in the bona fide and established practices of the trade; signs which consist exclusively of: the shape which results from the nature of the goods themselves; the shape of goods which is necessary to obtain a technical result; the shape which gives substantial value to the goods; trade marks which are contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality; trade marks which are of such a nature as to deceive the public, for instance as to the nature, quality or geographical origin of the goods or service; trade marks which have not been authorised by the competent authorities and are to be refused or invalidated pursuant to Article 6 ter of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Paris Convention’.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-12 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.