Brussels, 01/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - According to the Court of First Instance, the exclamation mark used by the JOOP! company cannot be registered as a Community trade mark since it does not have a distinctive character (cases T-75/08 and T-191/08). JOOP! asked for two trade marks which it uses in the clothing and jewellery markets to be registered: one was a simple exclamation mark, the other had the same exclamation mark inside a black rectangular outline. The request was turned down by the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) in 2006. This was upheld by the Court of First Instance in its ruling of Wednesday 30 September. The ruling said that Council regulation (EC) N° 207/2009 allowed for the registration of a trade mark, even one which was devoid of distinctive character, so long as, in public conscientiousness, its use had an established link with the manufacturer, as is the case, for example, with Adidas' three stripes. According to the Court, however, the arguments put forward by JOOP! did not demonstrate such recognition of the “!” among average European consumers. The company now had two months to lodge an appeal. (C.D./transl.rt)