Apple has been trying to protect the look and feel of her store in Europe as a trademark for a couple of years now. Apple stores, due to their unique design and use of glass panels, brown square tables, a glass stair case and built in lighting, have a distinct look. Research proved that consumers in the United States recognized the interior of an Apple store immediately as such. Even if the logo is not on the wall. With this research in hand Apple succeeded in obtaining a trademark registration for her store layout in the United States.

Sometimes I feel a bit ashamed to tell people that I’m a trademark Attorney when these kind of thing happen. Also in the Benelux a trademark was filed on the 8th of January, only one day after the attack in Paris. The mark was filed for the class headings in classes 03, 16, 25, 28, 32, 35 and 38. Trademarks are usually refused because they are descriptive/ or lack of distinctive character.