With the decision C-421/13, issued July 10, 2012, the EuGH (European Court of Justice) has decided, that a representation of a sales area, which is only available in form of a drawing and comprises no indication of size or proportion is basically appropriate for the registration as a Trademark, also for services. Thereby, although the services can refer to goods, the services may not constitute a fundamental component of the sale of these goods. Moreover, the Court of Justice claims that the assessment criteria of such a figurative drawing of a sales area do not differ to those assessment criteria for other types of drawings.

In the present case, Apple registered a colored illustration of a sales area, named “flagshipstore”, as an international Trademark for, amongst others, retail services regarding computers and relating product demonstrations. The GPTO (German Patent and Trademark Office) refused an extension of protection in Germany assigning the reasons that the illustration of the sales area corresponds to a representation of an essential aspect of a commercial service and is further not understood as an indication of the commercial origin of the goods. Against this decision Apple filed grounds of appeal with the BPatG (Federal Patents Court). The BPatG in turn presented this query to the EuGH for a preliminary ruling.