November 2019. Personal care product company Beiersdorf is doing its utmost to protect the famous blue pot of its Nivea face cream from potential hijackers. Which is why it has registered a wide range of different trademarks, not just for the pot itself but also for the associated blue logo.

Insufficient similarity

Unfortunately, none of these efforts have been enough to prevent the ‘En Bleu’ logo from being registered as a European trademark, also for face creams. European Trademark Office EUIPO recently concluded that the En Bleu logo wasn’t sufficiently similar to the Nivea pot to be refused registration. That’s something not even the worldwide reputation of the Nivea pot can do anything to change. So Beiersdorf’s claim has its limitations.

The various Nivea trademarks registered: not enough to halt En Bleu