This material was first published by Thomson Reuters, trading as Sweet & Maxwell, 5 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5AQ, in Entertainment Law Review – (2025) 36 Ent. L.R. Issue 8, and is reproduced by agreement with the publishers. For further details, please see the publishers' website.
The EU General Court has issued a decision on an appeal from a EUIPO Board of Appeal decision, confirming that the figurative sign ‘I LOVE (heart-shape)’ is not distinctive in relation to “clothing” in class 25 and a position mark will not confer distinctive character to a sign devoid of such a character.
This article reviews the Court’s assessment and highlights the main principles.
You can read it in full below:

/Passle/5f3d6e345354880e28b1fb63/MediaLibrary/Images/2025-09-29-13-48-10-128-68da8e1af6347a2c4b96de4e.png)
/Passle/5f3d6e345354880e28b1fb63/MediaLibrary/Images/2025-05-02-12-48-14-187-6814bf0ea0108d1291d8fcd5.png)
/Passle/5f3d6e345354880e28b1fb63/SearchServiceImages/2026-05-07-13-47-11-974-69fc97df7d6c3322cf8fe1b3.jpg)