Joop! has lost its legal battle to get a solitary exclamation mark registered as a European Community Trade Mark. OHIM – the European Community Trade Mark Office – had denied Joop!'s trade mark application on the basis of the mark lacking distinctive character. The clothing and perfume supplier appealed, but the European Court of First Instance has upheld OHIM's decision. It ruled that consumers would not associate exclamation marks with the German company's products. It was only an eye-catching gimmick and not an indication of origin of the goods. It was possible for marks to acquire distinctiveness through use, but the CFI ruled that this had not happened here across the European Union.
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