The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a trademark infringement suit filed by a Nashville restaurant called “The Row Kitchen and Pub” against a competing restaurant named “Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row.” Although the restaurants were direct competitors serving tourists visiting Nashville’s Music Row; offered inexpensive, pub-style food and drinks…
The Supreme Court of Hungary (Kúria) ruled that the registration of a family name as trademark is unlawful upon the permission of one family member, where several family members are active on the same field. Furthermore, the Supreme Court gave guidance upon what conditions a family name may become a separate trade name, which is…
This case is about the genuine use of shape marks. M J Quinlan & Associates PTY Ltd. of Australia own a 1999 registration for the shape of a kangaroo. The mark is protected for potato snacks and potato crisps. The plaintiff owns or owned a patent and design rights to the kangaroo-shaped crisps which were…
In February this year, the Swedish Patent and Market Court (“PMD”) ruled in favour of Volvo in a bad faith case regarding the mark “MADE BY SWEDEN” registered by Green Stapler. The mark Made by Sweden had been the centre of a campaign starring Swedish superstar football player Zlatan Ibrahimović and world-renowned Swedish artist Robyn…
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…
With the likelihood of a no deal scenario increasing as March 2019 draws closer, the UK Government has now published a series of papers detailing the likely ramifications of a such a Brexit. Of particular note, the Government has published papers discussing the likely treatment of trade marks and designs, copyright, patents, and exhaustion. With…
A string of recent UK IPO decisions indicates that the Tribunal is willing to take a holistic and pragmatic view to an alleged bad faith filing. Many readers will be familiar with Michael Gleissner, the infamous modern day trade mark troll. Gleissner’s conduct has been scrutinised in a plethora of trade mark and domain name…
In BASIC NET SpA vs EUIPO, (case C-547/17 of Sept. 6, 2018), shortly after the recent Nestlè/Mondelez KIT KAT case (C‑84/17P, C-85/17 P and C-95/17 P; see ‘CJEU on the Kit Kat shape and acquired distinctiveness of EU trade marks for shapes’ in this blog), the CJEU again tackled the issue of how and where…
A German company’s interactive website, through which it assisted customers with improving their software products, was sufficient to subject the company to federal personal jurisdiction for purposes of a trademark infringement suit brought by a Maine company that owned a federally registered mark, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston has ruled. The German company…
The Regional Court of Munich was asked to decide on the question if an application for action by a right holder, based on the Customs Enforcement Regulation No. 608/2013 (“Customs Enforcement Regulation”), constitutes a dishonest obstruction of a competitor’s business under German unfair competition law. The court rejected the claim arguing that the provisions of…
