In Israel, three-dimensional marks which consist of product shapes are accepted for registration only in exceptional cases. The Registrar usually considers that the appropriate way to protect three-dimensional marks is to file an application for registration of a design.
Three-dimensional marks may be registered in Israel only they have no aesthetic or functional role and if they have acquired distinctiveness through extensive use.
In the case of the ABSOLUT vodka bottle, the Registrar has decided that the duration of use of the mark (from 1979), the substantial size of the advertising and the efforts invested in the creation of a connection between the product and its manufacturer, which contributed to the capacity of the public to identify the bottle shape with the famous vodka, enabled the bottle shape to become a trademark capable of registration.
As a consequence, since in the Registrar’s opinion the ABSOLUT bottle has no functional or aesthetic role, then its shape may be accepted for registration as a three-dimensional trademark.