Case sound marks in Europe

Für Elise

Sounds can also be protected as a trademark in Europe. That was the main conclusion of the Für Elise judgment of the European Court of Justice in 2003. The case was filed as a test case by the partners of Chiever*.

Unclear For a long time, it was unclear in Europe whether advertising jingles and other sounds could also be protected by trademark law. In itself, a sound, for example, an advertising jingle, naturally functions as a trademark. But how do you capture the trademark?

Trial process Für Elise

To find out, Chiever’s partners registered the first nine tones of Für Elise in the form of a music stave as a trademark in the Benelux and started a trial process. The case eventually ended up at the European Court, which ruled in 2003.

Music stave

Since this case, Europeans now know sounds can also be protected as a trademark in the European Union under certain conditions. If you submit an image of the trademark – in this case, a musical stave – that’s sufficiently clear and self-contained, the sound will receive trademark protection.

Digital files

It’s thanks to the Für Elise test case that sounds are now regularly registered as trademarks. Due to technology development, the visual representation requirements for trademark registration have now been dropped. It’s no longer mandatory to submit a trademark image. A digital sound fragment is also accepted, making more types of sounds eligible for trademark protection.

Netflix and Coolblue

For example, Netflix (1) and CoolBlue (2) have registered their well-known sounds as a European trademark.

*At the time the Für Elise trial process started, Chiever’s partners were owners of the trademark agency Shield Mark

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