Israeli Trademark Application for the Shape of the Cointreau Bottle Refused

The trademark application for the shape of the Cointreau alcohol bottle was refused by the Trademark Registrar. The application covers a brown glass bottle as shown above.

The application was rejected based on the Supreme Court ruling in the Toffifee case ( AUGUST STORCK KG v. Alfa) that for a product to be registerable as a three dimentional trademark it is required to fulfill three basic conditions:

A. It has to be exceptional different from other similar container
B. It has to actually serve the function of a trademark and be considered as such by the relevant consumers
C. It has to acquire secondary meaning due to extensive use in the market.

It was ruled that the Bottle wasn’t different from other alcohol bottles exciting in the market and that the bottle shape wasn’t sufficiently distinct. Also it was ruled that the applicant had failed to provide convincing evidence that the bottle has been used as an actual trademark.