Glossary
French: signe
In trademark law, the sign is the element deposited as a mark: the brand name, logo, color or figurative element. Traditionally, a trademark is described as consisting of a sign plus a list of goods and services. US practice would simply say “the mark”; French usage isolates the sign as a distinct component.
A mark can be filed as a word mark, a figurative mark (design/logo), a semi-figurative mark (word plus design — what US practice calls a composite mark), or a motion mark. Since the reform of the Intellectual Property Code, a mark can even consist of an MP3 file — a sound rather than a visual sign; sound marks are by extension treated within the law of distinctive signs. The sign can be filed in color or in black and white. For a motion mark example, see EUTM No. 019016401 on the EUIPO register. Smell marks cannot currently be registered — a point where EU practice is more restrictive than the USPTO, which has accepted scent marks in rare cases.
The sign is what gets compared in an opposition: the comparison proceeds on the phonetic, conceptual and visual levels (see similarity of signs).
Not every sign is registrable: a valid mark must be distinctive. The sign BOULANGER (“baker”), for instance, cannot be monopolized as a word-only mark for bread-making — it is devoid of distinctiveness for that activity.
See also: trademark, trademark filing.