The sound of a drinks can opening followed by several seconds of fizzing is not a trademark, an EU court ruled on Wednesday in a case brought by a German company.

Ardagh Metal Beverage Holdings had applied to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to register the noise made by its fizzy drinks cans.

But the company was left feeling flat after being rejected on the grounds that the sound was not "distinctive" enough.

"The sound made by a drinks can being opened, followed by a silence of approximately one second and a fizzing sound lasting approximately nine seconds" is not a so-called sound mark, the European General Court said in a statement.

Ardagh, which makes metal cans used in a variety of drinks including beer and wine, had appealed to the European General Court. 

But the court came down in favour of EUIPO in its first ever ruling on the registration of a sound mark submitted in audio format.

"A sound mark must have a certain resonance which enables the target consumer to perceive it as a trade mark and not as a functional element or as an indicator without any inherent characteristic," the court said.

"The sound elements and the silence of approximately one second, taken as a whole, do not have any inherent characteristic that would make it possible for them to be perceived... as being an indication of the commercial origin of the goods," it added.

The company may now appeal to the European Court of Justice.

Famous registered sound marks include jingles such as the Intel Pentium processor tune, but also other sounds such as the MGM lion's roar.

Motorbike manufacturer Harley Davidson famously failed to get the rumble of its engines registered as a sound mark in the 1990s.