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Important notice of 16 February 2026

Signs describing the subject matter of goods and/or services; completion of Convergence Project 16 as part of the European cooperation

The trade mark offices of the EU Member States and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) have been collaborating on convergence projects to harmonise decisions since 2012. The convergence projects serve to enhance the transparency, legal certainty and predictability of decisions. Now another convergence project concerning trade marks, in which the DPMA participated in the interest of its users, has been completed.

Convergence Project 16 concerns signs describing the subject matter of goods and/or services. During the course of the project, the participating offices agreed on general principles for the assessment of signs that describe the subject matter of goods and/or services. Detailed examples regarding this topic were also included.

You can find a summary of the most important results as well as examples in the Common Communication ( CP16).

The Common Practice and the guidelines will be implemented by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office from 16 February 2026 on. The result of the project corresponds to the decisions we have taken so far, so there will be no changes in practice for our customers.

Last updated: 16 February 2026