This book sets out to explain the fundamental principles governing the legal protection of trade marks in the United Kingdom and the European Union. After an in-depth analysis of the multifarious functions of trade marks in a market economy, the author undertakes what must surely be the most exhaustive study ever attempted of the so-called absolute grounds on which trade marks may be denied registration. The treatment of the subject is rigorous, scholarly, critical, and occasionally iconoclastic. The book is essential reading for anyone - lawyers, teachers, judges, businesspeople - interested in the subject of trade mark law. David T. Keeling is a British barrister who was an official of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg for a lengthy period before moving to Alicante in 1996 to join the EU's newly created trade mark office (now called the European Union Intellectual Property Office or EUIPO). He was a member of the Boards of Appeal of the Office for 15 years, during which time he wrote over a thousand decisions on trade mark appeals.