European Union – Trade marks. The Second Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office had correctly decided that the applicant company (adidas AG) had failed to establish that the figurative mark that it had successfully registered consisting of three parallel equidistant stripes of identical width (applied on a product in any direction) had acquired distinctive character through use throughout the EU. It followed that the Board had been right to decide that the contested mark had been registered in breach of art 7(1)(b) of the Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 and that it should therefore be declared invalid. Consequently, the General Court of the European Union dismissed the action by adidas AG for annulment of the Board's decision.