Energy drinks and beer
One of Red Bull’s most important distinctive signs is the silver-and-blue pattern used on its cans. This pattern was also registered as a trademark in Europe in 2004. Although Red Bull uses this trademark only for its energy drinks, its registration covers many other products as well. For example, the trademark registration also lists beer, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, mineral water, fruit juice and soft drinks in the broadest sense of the term. Red Bull may have thought it was better to claim a little more than necessary.
Use is mandatory
Trademark law, however, requires a trademark to be used in order to maintain the rights attached to it. When a trademark has not been used for a continuous period of five years, an application may be made to revoke the registration. That is what happened here. Danish company State Drinks, which also sells energy drinks, applied to the European Union Intellectual Property Office, EUIPO, for the revocation of the silver-and-blue trademark. State Drinks argued that Red Bull had not used the trademark for all the products listed in its registration.
No beer, but energy drinks
After thoroughly examining all the evidence submitted, EUIPO’s Cancellation Division concluded on 15 June 2026 that Red Bull had used its silver-and-grey trademark only for energy drinks. The company was unable to prove use for the other products covered by the registration. The registration was therefore revoked for products such as beer, fruit drinks and soft drinks in the broadest sense of the term. The trademark remains valid only for the specific product category of energy drinks.
How serious is this?
But is this really a serious problem for Red Bull? Probably not, in my view. Naturally, the company would have preferred to retain protection for the entire soft-drinks category, as that provides somewhat broader protection than protection for energy drinks alone. On the other hand, the product that really matters—the energy drink—remains fully protected.
Bas Kist
