(Publ. 13 JAN 2020) Since October 1st 2017, it has been possible to apply for new types of trademarks within the European Union, such as multimedia, sounds, motion pictures and holograms. The same changes to the Trademark Act came into force in Sweden in January 2019. Among these new categories of trademarks, we find motion trademarks which can be described as pictures in motion. In October 2019 the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV) received its first application for a motion trademark and three weeks later it was granted and registered.

Mats Huss was the first applicant to receive a registered motion trademark in Sweden. Together with art director Karl-Fredrik Johnfors they developed an environment motion picture that visualizes the carbon dioxide imprint of companies, organizations and individuals.

“This modern Trademark Act has opened up completely to new possibilities for protecting valuable media and technology”, says Håkan Ekdahl, Head of Design and Trademark Unit at PRV.

So far, the EUIPO has since its inception of the new Trademark Act in 2017, received 73 motion trademark applications of which 36 are registered, 25 are still under examination and only 12 have been denied.