Judgment_paragraph 27 · Colloseum Holding AG v Levi Strauss & Co (C-12/12)

27As regards the acquisition of distinctive character by a mark, for the purpose of its registration, through the use which has been made of it within the meaning of Article 7(3) of Regulation No 40/94, the Court has held, in the context of Article 3(3) of the First Council Directive 89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (OJ 1989 L 40, p. 1), which provision corresponds, in essence, to Article 7(3) of Regulation No 40/94, that acquisition of distinctive character may result both from the use, as part of a registered trade mark, of a component thereof and from the use of a separate mark in conjunction with a registered trade mark. In both cases it is sufficient that, in consequence of such use, the relevant class of persons actually perceive the goods or service, designated exclusively by the mark applied for, as originating from a given undertaking (Case C-353/03 Nestlé [2005] ECR I-6135, paragraph 30).