July 2005
No Victory for Corona and the 'Lime'
The European Court of Justice has put an end to Eurocermex's (the European Licensee of the beer brand, Corona) 7-year long quest to register a 3-dimensional trade mark of a clear bottle containing yellow liquid with a slice of lime in the neck.
The argument for not granting the registration was that plugging lemon or lime in a light bottled beer was fairly standard practice in the drinks industry.
BRIFFA Comment:
The effect of granting the trade mark would mean that no other brand would be able to sell it's yellow liquid in a similar bottle with a slice of lime in the neck.
Again public perception and association is all-important. If a lime in the top of a beer bottle was only really associated with Corona then a trade mark could conceivably be registered just as Coca Cola registered its distinctive bottle. The application was clearly somewhat ambitious.