The Opposition Division has partially upheld an opposition filed by Jaguar Land Rover (“Jaguar”) against EUTM application no.16778672 for the figurative mark, , applied for by luxury fashion designer, Philipp Plein. Jaguar based its opposition on earlier EUTM registrations covering several variations of its logo, as well as unregistered rights in these marks. These earlier…

All trademark news that you might have missed last month in one convenient overview. Read up on the latest news reported by the Kluwer IP Reporter. Benelux adopts measures to protect personal details in trademark register In an effort to address the privacy concerns of trademark holders, the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) has…

The murals were merely hidden from public view, not modified or destroyed. A law school that covered up two controversial murals with acoustic panels in order to hide them from public view did not violate the rights of the visual artist who created the murals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has…

If the third-party marks and opposer’s marks are identical, the opposer’s marks and the applicant’s marks are compared to see if they are identical or non-identical for identical goods or services. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal…

To which extent can the General Court review decisions by the EUIPO Boards of Appeal (BoA) is an issue never properly addressed, and one that the CJEU has found to be “significant with respect to the unity, consistency or development of EU law”. Thus, with its order of July 11, 2023, it allowed an appeal…

The trade dress of a wedge-shaped candy, colored to resemble a slice of watermelon, was determined to be functional and not eligible for protection under federal trademark law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a summary judgment decision by a New Jersey district court, ruling that a candy maker could not…

The protection of trademarks has long been associated with social progress and collective interest. However, a widely accepted scientific consensus remains elusive regarding the interaction between these beneficial outcomes and more specifically the extended protection of reputed trademarks, principally against dissimilar goods. As noted in the literature, “science has yet to offer convincing and widely…

With Judgment of 8 March 2023 (B-1974/2022), the Swiss Federal Administrative Court confirmed the rejection of an opposition by Apple against a trademark showing another stylized apple motif. According to the Swiss Federal Administrative Court, there is no likelihood of confusion between the trademarks shown below, which are claimed for various identical or similar goods…

Registrability of Works of Art as Trademarks   Recently, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”) and the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (“HIPO”) have been asked in several cases to examine whether a work of art, in particular a painting, can be registered as a trademark. If a work of art is protected by copyright,…