For a long time, slogans were considered difficult candidates for trade mark applications: too promotional, too interchangeable, too little indication of origin. The EUIPN (European Union Intellectual Property Network) common practice adopted on 8 November 2025 now makes it clear: slogans are not subject to stricter examination criteria than other types of signs – they just need to be sufficiently distinctive.
With the Common Practice “The Distinctive Character of Slogans”, the EUIPN – the cooperation network of the EUIPO and the Member States’ Intellectual Property Offices – is introducing uniform standards for the registration of slogan trade marks across Europe for the first time. The aim is to make the process more similar and predictable.
When is a slogan distinctive?
A slogan is distinctive if, beyond being promotional, it indicates the commercial origin of the product – in other words, the reader can then associate the goods or services with a specific company.
The following non-exhaustive list of factors can indicate the distinctiveness of a slogan:
- it has a number of meanings.
- it constitutes a play on words.
- it introduces elements of conceptual intrigue or surprise, so that it may be perceived as imaginative, surprising or unexpected.
- it has a degree of originality or resonance, and/or triggers in the minds of the relevant public a cognitive process or requires an interpretative effort.
- it has unusual syntactic structures and/or linguistic and stylistic devices, such as alliteration, metaphors, rhyme, paradox, etc.
An overall assessment is required – no single factor determines the outcome. Also, the length alone does not determine whether a slogan is distinctive.
Examples of slogans that can be protected:
- "BEAUTY NEEDS TO TRAVEL" – ambiguous and interpretable depending on the context, because "beauty" and "travel" are combined in an unusual way and require thoughtful consideration.
- "AS GREEN AS WHITE CAN BE" – an oxymoron that triggers an interpretative thought process and is not directly descriptive.
- "WHAT DO CLOUDS SMELL LIKE?" – not a direct description of the service, but triggers a cognitive process.
- "LOOSEN UP IN THE CLOUDS" – metaphorical language that makes the reader think.
Examples of slogans that cannot be protected:
- "DREAM IT, DO IT!" – a purely motivational statement that encourages consumers to realise their goals but lacks any original structure or intellectual tension.
- "PIONEERING FOR YOU" – a mere value proposition that suggests technical progress, but is understood as a typical advertising formula that does not reference its origin.
- "CREATE DELIGHTFUL HUMAN ENVIRONMENTS" – a clearly understandable, promotional statement that merely emphasises the positive characteristics of the goods or services.
- "SO WHAT DO I DO WITH MY MONEY" – a customer service statement that merely reflects an everyday question and has no distinctive character.
Why is the new common practice important?
The EUIPN-Common Practice standardizes the trade mark registration process in Europe. For companies, this means more predictability and a clearer assessment of when a slogan trade mark is worth the effort. At the same time, it will become easier to create slogans that can be protected as trade marks, because the application criteria will become more clear.
We will gladly advise you in this process – strategically designing distinctive, protectable slogans, sparring on new specific slogans, registering and enforcing slogan trade marks, etc.
