Trademark FOR YOU 
by Dr. Maximilian Kinkeldey, Partner of Grünecker, Kinkeldey, Stockmair & Schwanhäusser

In a decision regarding the application for the trademark FOR YOU for tobacco, cigarettes, tobacco products, cigarette papers and lighters, the Federal German Supreme Court had to decide whether a rejection could be based on the allegation that this trademark had to be kept freely available for competitors (according to Section 8, Sub-section 2, No. 2 of the German Trademark Act). In that respect, the Federal German Supreme Court decided that under Section 8, Sub-section 2, No. 2 of the German Trademark Act, exclusively those words can be denied protection which are closely related to the goods in question, that is when they may serve in trade to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, time of production of the goods or of the rendering of the services in question or any other characteristics of the goods or services in question. Beyond these purposes, which are explicitly named in Section 8, Sub-section 2, No. 2, according to the Federal German Supreme Court, no general necessity to keep certain terms - which are not closely related to the goods or services in question - freely available for competitors exists which justifies a rejection based on Section 8, sub-section 2, No. 2 of the German Trademark Act (Bundesgerichtshof, Decision of July 15, 1999 - I ZB, 45/96).