European and UK Trade Mark Law

This book sets out to explain the fundamental principles governing the legal protection of trade marks in the United Kingdom and the European Union. After an in-depth analysis of the multifarious functions of trade marks in a market economy, the author undertakes what must surely be the most exhaustive study ever attempted of the so-called absolute grounds on which trade marks may be denied registration. The treatment of the subject is rigorous, scholarly, critical, and occasionally iconoclastic. The book is essential reading for anyone - lawyers, teachers, judges, businesspeople - interested in the subject of trade mark law. David T. Keeling is a British barrister who was an official of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg for a lengthy period before moving to Alicante in 1996 to join the EU's newly created trade mark office (now called the European Union Intellectual Property Office or EUIPO). He was a member of the Boards of Appeal of the Office for 15 years, during which time he wrote over a thousand decisions on trade mark appeals.