{"id":301,"date":"2020-03-05T09:33:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T08:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erlburg.law\/?p=301"},"modified":"2025-09-03T16:30:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T14:30:04","slug":"the-power-of-green-branding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erlburg.law\/en\/the-power-of-green-branding","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Green Branding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Brand owners have\nbeen focusing on sustainability for some years and the topic has gained further\nimportance in the last months. New trademarks are therefore developed, existing\namended and companies also look for completely new ways of legal protection. One\nmay think of the registration of ordinary trademarks, eco-labels or the use of\ncertification marks. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is little doubt that we have seen an increase in\nenvironmental consciousness over the last years. Brand owners have responded to\nthese developments with new products and offerings but also with an alteration\nin branding. Green is evidently the colour of the natural world and its use has\nincreased significantly in recent years. But what exactly is green branding?\nHow may sustainable signs gain legal protection? And how do the various\nelements interact with the existing trademark system?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Distinctiveness\nremains important <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The legal approach towards sustainable trademarks has been\nrather modest although the law has started to adapt to the latest changes in\nconsumer behaviour. Brand owners approach the rise of sustainable awareness\nlargely by one of the most well-known legal measures \u2013 trademark registrations.\nThe number of trademark registrations that encompass green as primary colour or\nmake use of word elements such as eco, bio and green has increased\nsubstantially over the past few years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest hurdle for any business that seeks trademark\nprotection for a green brand name is that the mark may appear merely descriptive.\nApplications for word marks dominated by terms such as green, biological,\nfair\/fair trade or eco are therefore likely to be regarded descriptive. The\nmost obvious way of securing protection for sustainable trademarks lies \u2013 as\nusual \u2013 in the establishment of brands that contain unusual or artificial words\nand word combinations that still allow the consumer to draw a link to\nsustainability. The adding of non-descriptive elements, in particular graphical\nelements, is another way of securing trademark registrations for trademarks\nwith a descriptive connotation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Alternative:\nEco-labels <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eco-labels are labelling systems for food and consumer\nproducts. The use of eco-labels to promote sustainable business practices is\napplied around the world. The first eco-label of the world was the German\ncertification Der Blaue Engel (\u201eThe Blue Angel\u201c). It has been awarded for\nproducts and services with environmentally friendly aspects since 1978. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eco-labelling was originally introduced by non-government\norganisations (NGOs). Since then, national governments across the world but\nalso the European Union have picked up the idea and introduced legislation for\nthe operation of eco-labelling. They have also created their own eco-labels.\nSince 1992 it has been possible to award products with the EU eco-label in all\nmember states of the EU, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. Other examples are\nthe well-known German Bio-Siegel and the EU organic arming log. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Increasing relevance:\nCertification marks <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apart from sustainable trademarks and eco-labels,\ncertification marks play an increasing role in the further development of\nreliable standards and recognised labels for sustainable products. Certification\nmarks are signs that indicate a specific quality of goods or services by certifying\ncertain standards, such as the method or mode of manufacture. They allow a\ncertifying body (institution or organisation) to permit others to use a\npraticular mark for the purpose of guaranteeing tot he relevant public that\ntheir goods or services comply with certain certficiation requirements. This\nusually relates to a mode of manufacture or the material or quality of the\ngoods concerned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are EU member states such as France, Spain and Sweden\nthat have had existing legal frameworks for certification marks for some time.\nThe EU allows the registration of an EU certifiction mark only since 2017. Such\nregistration requires the submission of a statute. This statute regulates the\nconditions under which the certfication mark may be used. Besides, German\nTrademark Law allows the application of a German certification mark &nbsp;since 14 January 2019. As for the EU certification\nmark, the German certification mark does not allow the trademark owner to make\nuse of the mark itself and it has to disclose the applicable standards in a\nstatute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brand owners have<br \/>\nbeen focusing on sustainability for some years and the topic has gained further<br \/>\nimportance in the last months. New trademarks are therefore developed, existing<br \/>\namended and companies also look for completely new ways of legal protection. One<br \/>\nmay think of the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,38,48,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brand-management-en","category-intellectual-property","category-trademarks","category-unfair-competition"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Power of Green Branding - ERLBURG Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH Berlin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.erlburg.law\/the-power-of-green-branding\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Power of Green Branding - ERLBURG Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH Berlin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Brand owners have been focusing on sustainability for some years and the topic has gained further importance in the last months. New trademarks are therefore developed, existing amended and companies also look for completely new ways of legal protection. One may think of the\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.erlburg.law\/the-power-of-green-branding\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ERLBURG Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH Berlin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-05T08:33:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T14:30:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.erlburg.law\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/erlburg-Greenbranding.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christian Schillings\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christian Schillings\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.erlburg.law\\\/the-power-of-green-branding#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.erlburg.law\\\/the-power-of-green-branding\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Christian Schillings\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.erlburg.law\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d8611e685ca7f9d4eec26506a2a08550\"},\"headline\":\"The Power of Green Branding\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-05T08:33:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-03T14:30:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.erlburg.law\\\/the-power-of-green-branding\"},\"wordCount\":663,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.erlburg.law\\\/the-power-of-green-branding#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.erlburg.law\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/erlburg-Greenbranding.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Brand Management\",\"Intellectual Property\",\"Trademarks\",\"Unfair Competition\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.erlburg.law\\\/the-power-of-green-branding\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.erlburg.law\\\/the-power-of-green-branding\",\"name\":\"The Power of Green Branding - 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