Language of document :

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Svea Hovrätt — (Sweden) lodged on 14 June 2019 — Östgötatrafiken AB v Patent- och registreringsverket

(Case C-456/19)

Language of the case: Swedish

Referring court

Svea Hovrätt

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: Östgötatrafiken AB

Respondent: Patent- och registreringsverket

Questions referred

The questions concern the application of Article 4(1)(b) of Directive 2015/2436 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2015 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks 1 and are as follows:

Must Article 4(1)(b) of the Trade Marks Directive be interpreted as meaning that, in the case of an application for registration of a trade mark which characterises services and where the application relates to a sign, placed in a particular position, which covers large areas of the physical objects used to perform the services, it must be assessed whether the mark is not independent of the appearance of the objects concerned?

If question I is answered in the affirmative, is it necessary for the trade mark to depart significantly from the norm or customs of the economic sector concerned in order for the mark to be regarded as having distinctive character?

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1 OJ 2015 L 336, p. 1.