As already indicated by the title, this paper concentrates on the legal and practical issues concerning special marks in the European Community. The author analyses, which criteria are applicable for nontraditional signs, which can be registered as trademarks and therefore be protected by national, international and regional (European Union) law. In the first part of a paper the description of a sign which can be trademark according to Lithuanian an European Community law is given. In the second part of the paper international agreements regarding trademark protection are presented. In the same part a two level European Community trademark protection system and basic regulations is analysed. In the third part two basic requirements for the sign to be a trademark are analysed: graphic representation and distinctiveness. In this part European Justice Court and First Instance Court decisions regarding nontraditional trademarks are presented. Case study is split according to major nontraditional sign groups. The evolution and tendency of nontaditional trademarks is also shortly presented in the last part of a paper. Recommendations for further study are proposed after the conclusions.