Barcelona's club badge lacks any "striking feature," an EU court ruled | AFP/Getty EU court 1 Barcelona 0 Soccer giant’s logo judged not to have the “distinctive character” required for a trademark.

European soccer champions FC Barcelona cannot trademark the outline of its club badge because it lacks any "striking feature," an EU court ruled Thursday.

Barcelona was not trying to trademark the club crest — which features the flags of Catalonia and of the city of Barcelona as well as the letters FCB (Futbol Club Barcelona) — but the outline of the logo, to use on merchandise.

But the European General Court, the EU's second highest court, dismissed the club's move, saying that the outline was not distinctive enough to be obviously linked to the soccer club.

The case began in April 2013, when Barcelona applied for a trademark to the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, which manages community trademarks in the EU. In May 2014, the OHIM rejected the application as the logo outline "was not liable to draw consumers’ attention to the commercial origin of the goods and services covered by the application."

Unhappy at the decision, Barcelona took the case to the General Court, which on Thursday dismissed the claim "in entirety."