Increasingly, it seems that complex trademark cases are not always decided on the basis of trademark law and EUTMR alone but also on the basis of general legal principles, such as estoppel (in Danish “passivitet”), and much less often acquiescence. We have written two blogs on the subject seen from a Danish perspective. This first…
Muesli – denied recognition in its birth place (T-103/16) Refusal of EUTM application for based on earlier mark ALPEN for cereals For many Europeans, the Alps are a common denominator for mountains, milk, dairy products, muesli, chocolate, ski, hiking, peacefulness or natural wonders. However, the General Court had a slightly different view. In its…
This case concerns the first appeal from a Hearing Officer of the UK Intellectual Property Office (“UK IPO”) to the Scottish Court of Session. The dispute at issue was between CCHG Limited t/a Vaporized (the “Appellant”) and Vapouriz Limited (the “Respondent”). The Respondent had brought an invalidity action before the UK IPO based on…
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board did not err in refusing to register the trademark FIRST TUESDAY for lottery games and services, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled. According to the court, the mark described a feature of the applicant’s goods and services: scratch-off lottery tickets that the applicant (the…
Trademark questions pop up in practically every M&A transaction. Many of these questions are straightforward, some require specialist knowledge. Specialists like to demonstrate as much of their knowledge as possible, and even IP lawyers are not always immune to this. But M&A transactions are not the place for such demonstrations. Disproportionate attention to negligible detail,…
Can the use of “KHG” infringe the name rights of “Karl-Heinz Grasser”? Former Austrian Minister of Finance Karl-Heinz Grasser is widely known as KHG. After his term, which ended in 2007, he was accused of bribery in various cases. The accusations and investigations gained great public attention. In 2015, the defendants, a journalist who publishes…
The CJEU ruled again on jurisdiction (after Hummel Holding, C-617/15) in BMW AG v Acacia Srl (C-433/16), focusing in particular on the relationship between Reg. 44/2001 (“Brussels Regulation”) and Reg. 6/2002 (“CDR”). The case started when Acacia – an Italian manufacturer of replica car rims – filed an action seeking a declaration of non-infringement (“DNI action”) of some BMW’s…
‘Dormant trademarks’ are unused trademarks which remain on the register until the competent authority declares them revoked (this denomination comes from Verena von Bomhard’s article ‘Dormant Trademarks in the European Union – Swords of Damocles?’, The Trademark Reporter, Vol. 96 September-October, 2006 No. 5). Under current Hungarian rules these dormant trademarks can cause trouble if…
The Swedish company producing high quality beds Hästens Sängar AB (hereafter “Hästens”) has in several jurisdictions (DK, EU, US, SE, NO, CH, FI, ES etc.) applied for the mark (hereafter “the figurative mark”) or variations thereof. Recently, in T-359/12 (C-363/15) Louis Vuitton Malletier’s mark was refused by the Court. For this reason it was evident…
