This article examines the concept of acquisition of distinctive character in the Polish proceedings for the registration of a trademark, and also in proceedings for the declaration of the invalidity of such a right. The acquisition of secondary distinctiveness is a prerequisite for the grant or refusal to declare the invalidity of a trademark protection right. The article presents the understanding of the requirement concerning the use of a mark as a trademark as the basic condition for the acquisition of secondary distinctiveness, and the liberal approach to this issue practised by the European courts. Te article discusses evidence of the acquisition of secondary distinctiveness, and the review conducted by Polish administrative courts of the Polish Patent Office’s decisions on such matters.
The article analyzes these issues with respect to Polish and European industrial property law on trademarks, and also considers the case law of the European and Polish administrative courts (the Warsaw Voivodeship Administrative Court and the Polish Supreme Administrative Court).
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