Actions which impinge upon the monopoly granted by an Intellectual Property right are considered infringements.
In India, so-called translation cases, where a later mark is (or is alleged to be) a mere translation of an earlier mark leading to confusion resulting from conceptual similarity, are dealt with under the concept of “deceptive similarity”. While earlier decisions seemed to favour a broad interpretation of this concept, the judgment of the Delhi…
The creators of a seminar critical of Applied Underwriters Inc.’s EquityComp insurance program did not infringe or dilute Applied’s federally registered trademarks by using them in the name of their seminar or the promotional materials related to it, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has held. In affirming a district court’s dismissal because…
It is longstanding practice in fashion to designate certain products not only by illegible article numbers, but by names. Many times male or female personal names are chosen. When there is a broad range of products, many names are needed by a fashion company. Many times these will not be needed for a long time,…
The Sofia City Court, Commercial Division reached a landmark decision on November 15, 2018, when it issued a judgement holding that the company REZON Ltd., which manages and operates the on-line marketplace <bazar.bg>, violated the rights of the trademark owner PHILIPP PLEIN. The breach occurred through the use of these trademarks in the commercial activity…
The Regional High Court of Nuremberg rejected a request for an interim injunction in a trade mark case on appeal, considering that the defendant had already stopped the trade mark infringement at the time when the applicant (plaintiff) was seeking injunctive relief (judgment of 10 October 2018, 3 W 1932/18). The court decided that it…
Amendments to the Czech and Slovak Trademark Acts implementing the EU trademark reform of 2015 have been recently passed by the respective parliaments. The amendments will become effective on 1 January 2019 in Czechia and on 14 January 2019 in Slovakia. There are 3 major changes to be noted: 1) New definition of a trademark…
The issue of whether domain registrars shall be liable for online infringements has been actively debated in Russia for the recent 3 years. Starting from a remarkable MMK vs. REG.RU case (А40-52455/2015), where the IP Court refused to apply the regime of information intermediaries. After several futile attempts, the IP Court’s recent decision in Azbuka…
In a recent decision from 1 October 2018 (B-2740-17) the Danish Eastern High Court affirmed a decision of the Danish Commercial Court from December 2017 (V-8-17) in which the court had ruled that a café in Copenhagen had infringed the trademark rights and copyrights to the character Obelix which rightfully belongs to Les Editions Albert…
When VIPs hit the headlines with issues relating to trademark law, IP attorneys rejoice in providing know-how at social gatherings. This happened to the author with the recent news of a conflict between the well-known Irish MMA fighter Connor McGregor and the Dutch based fashion brand McGregor over – what else – the use of…
On 25 July 2018 (C-129/17), the CJEU decided that de-branding and rebranding of goods prior to any trade within the EEA without the trademark proprietor’s consent constituted ‘use in the course of trade’ of the originally affixed trademark and could, therefore, be prohibited by the proprietor of that mark. The judgment broadens the concept…
