48A sign which was at one time capable of acting as a trade mark may, by reason of the use thereof by third parties as a customary designation of a product, lose the capacity to perform the essential function of a trade mark, and in particular that of identifying the origin of the goods or services, thus enabling the consumer who acquired them to repeat the experience, if it proves to be positive, or to avoid it, if it proves to be negative, on the occasion of a subsequent acquisition (Case T-79/00 Rewe Zentral v OHIM (LITE) [2002] ECR II-705, paragraph 26).
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