Meiji, a subsidiary of a major Japanese food company, Meiji Holdings, announced that they exercised their 3D trademark right of “Kinokonoyama” against its similar products produced by a confectionary company for the first time. The company terminated the production and sales of its products because it is likely to cause confusion with Meiji’s products.
Meiji successfully obtained a 3D trademark right for their signature product “Kinokonoyama” (English: mushroom mountain) in Japan in 2018. Kinokonoyama is a well-known mushroom shaped biscuit with a chocolate layer. Since the market launch of this snack in 1975, Meiji expanded their range of products with this iconic mushroom shape and even introduced mushroom shaped wireless headphones that sold out quickly. Due to the popularity of Kinokonoyama, many counterfeit headphones were sold under the company’s name inside and outside of Japan. Meiji submitted a petition of import prohibition to customs based on the conventional word trademark which was accepted in June 2024. This time, Meiji negotiated and concluded an agreement with another confectionary company to stop selling a mushroom shaped snack named “Choco Kinoko” (English: chocolate mushroom) after claiming it violated their 3D trademark right.
3D trademark registration in the food industry
There are only a few instances in which companies have registered a 3D trademark in the food industry and it is assumed that cases in which company has exercised its rights are also rare. In case where a 3D trademark consists solely of the product’s shape, the challenge of obtaining the registration is fulfillment of the distinctiveness requirement without including any characters or logos. If an applicant wishes to obtain a 3D trademark consisting solely of the product’s shape, the shape itself must be so recognizable that consumers can identify it without any other branding than the shape. Some other examples in the food industry for 3D trademarks are the Coca-Cola bottle and the Kikkoman tabletop soy sauce dispenser.