The Slogan “GUARANTEED TO KEEP YOU DRY” was Rejected by the TMO

The slogan “GUARANTEED TO KEEP YOU DRY” in classes 24 and 25 for textile and clothing sealed for water was rejected by the Trademark Commissionar on the Basis of lack of distinctive Character. The current guidelines regarding slogans is that slogans should be treated like any other trademark and could be registered if they are actually serve as a trademark and indicates the source of the goods. On December 8 2011, the District Court of Tel Aviv has ruled in the case of Eveready Battery Company Inc V. Registrar of Patents (21488-05-11), that the examination of a slogan should be the same as any other mark, without the prior assumption that a slogan lack of distinctive character by its nature . This decision was given in an appeal of decision of the Trademark Registrar in which he denied the trademark application FREE YOUR SKIN on the basis of lack of distinctiveness.

In the Decision of FREE YOUR SKIN Court has offered a test in order to decide whether a certain slogan can be registered as a trademark in Israel. The test would be whether we can presume that a consumer who enters a shop in order to buy a certain product would ask the product from the seller using the slogan? If the answer is positive than we can assume that the slogan indeed serves as a trademark and indicates the source of the goods to the consumer and therefore should be eligible for registration.