The Administrative Instruction (AI) No. 08/2016, effective as of July 4, 2016 in Kosovo, relates to the accelerated examination of trademark applications, which is available if there has been an alleged infringement of trademark rights. When requesting such examination, the applicant must indicate the trademark filing details and submit: • Copy of the trademark application…
In a trademark infringement suit between two packing companies over rights in the name “PAKSTER,” the federal district court in Waterloo, Iowa, lacked jurisdiction to cancel two federal trademark registrations fraudulently obtained by defendant PI, Inc., because its rival, East Iowa Plastics, Inc., (“EIP”) failed to established that it suffered any damages as a result…
The federal district court in Sacramento properly determined that an individual (Scott R. Smith) lacked standing to challenge two Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decisions dismissing Smith’s petitions to cancel trademark registrations owned by Entrepreneur Media, Inc. (“EMI”), the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has decided in a nonprecedential summary ruling (Smith v….
LEGO, JENSEN and UTZON have in-common that they all are trademarks and last names at the same time. A decade ago the reputed producer of construction toys for children LEGO tried to prohibit Louise Lego Andersen – painter and gallery owner – from e.g. signing her paintings as “L. Lego” (see ruling V 150/03). LEGO…
As well as bringing you a fun copyright quiz to keep you entertained over the rest of the summer, we’ve also prepared an overview of the top 3 most-read posts from each of our IP law blogs. Unsurprisingly, Brexit was the hot topic on all three blogs, but we also have a very interesting interview…
In a decision of 22 April 2016, the Spanish Supreme Court has clarified the circumstances in which the commercialization of original luxury products through Internet sale platforms outside a selective distribution system could be relied on by the trademark owner as precluding an exhaustion of the trademark rights. The plaintiffs, various companies of the L’Oréal…
A recent decision of the Federal Patent Court in Germany (Decision of 1 March 2016 on Case 29 W (pat) 33/13) shows that the unitary character of an EU trademark (EUTM) does not necessarily mean that it enjoys the same level of protection in all EU member states. In opposition proceedings in Germany, the Federal…
In a decision of June 15, 2016 the Swedish Court of Patent Appeals rejected the application for the word mark “007” in relation to tobacco and smoker’s articles on the basis that it would take unfair advantage of the reputed James Bond trademark “007” owned by Danjaq, LLC. The decision concerned the validity in Sweden…
In one of its latest decisions (I ZR 50/14 of November 5, 2015 – ConText) the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice) has ruled that the forfeiture of a claim requesting injunction relief due to an infringement of a company name by another company name has to be determined according to the general principles of forfeiture…
Last month saw an interesting case before the UK High Court in relation to a counterclaim to trade mark infringement for a declaration that the EUTM in question was invalid as the registration was neither a “sign” nor “capable of being represented graphically” within the meaning of Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) 207/2009) (the…
