Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., the second-biggest U.S. automaker, came a step closer to getting the European Union trademark rights to “Fun” after a court overturned a decision by the region’s trademark agency.

Ford applied for the trademark in 2005, seeking the exclusive rights to use the word “fun” on some vehicles. The EU trademark agency a year later rejected the application, deciding the word Fun wasn’t an inventive word because it described the experience of driving a Ford car.

The European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg, the main appeals tribunal for decisions by the EU agency, today overturned the decision, saying the connection between the word “‘fun’ and cars is too vague and subjective to give the word a descriptive character in connection with the relevant products.”

The Alicante, Spain-based trademark agency, called the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, ruled in 2006 that the main target audience for Ford was English-speaking and between the ages 18 and 70.

These people “will take the word ‘fun’ as an indication that the car has a fun design and is enjoyable to drive,” the agency ruled. In addition, the word “fun” is part of the basic English vocabulary and as such should be kept free for the use by other traders and advertisers, it said.

Today’s ruling can be appealed one last time to the European Court of Justice, the EU’s top court.

The case is T-67/07 Ford Motor v OHMI (FUN).

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephanie Bodoni in Luxembourg at sbodoni@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 2, 2008 06:01 EST