The Higher Regional Court Frankfurt (OLG Frankfurt) held in its decision 6 U 40/22 of June 2, 2022 that the imprint of a commonly known verb on the front of a garment would be perceived as a descriptive term by the public. This led the Court to decide that the word had not been used…
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) held in its decision C-541/18 of September 12, 2019 that the distinctive character of a sign applied for as a trademark –a prerequisite of eligibility for trademark protection– must be assessed in the light of all the relevant facts and circumstances. This includes all the likely uses of the…
The German Federal Court of Justice (“BGH”) held in its decision “Papierspender” (“Paper Dispenser”) that a Community design was not automatically caught by the functionality provision of the Community Design Regulation because it had appeared in a patent application. The decision highlights the importance for product developers to keep detailed records, already during product development,…
In a recent decision of the General Court of the European Union (General Court), the Italian fashion house Gucci (Guccio Gucci SpA) once again drew the shorter straw against permanent rival Guess (Guess? IP Holder LP). This judgment forms the most recent in a string of cases fought between the two companies throughout Europe,…
A recent case before the European Court of Justice has dealt with the interesting question of how Article 7(1)(e)(ii) of Regulation No 40/94 (now replaced by Regulation 207/2009), which provides that signs which consist exclusively of the shape of goods necessary to obtain a technical result shall not be registered, should be assessed. Thereby, German…
On July 05, 2016, the General Court confirmed the decisions of the invalidity department and the Boards of Appeal of the EUIPO and decided that the EU word mark “NEUSCHWANSTEIN”, registered by the Free State of Bavaria for goods and services in various classes remains registered since the trademark neither consists exclusively of an indication…
The General Court decided on 14 April 2016 (T-20/15) that the “PICCOLO” trademark of a German producer of sparkling wines had not been used in a right-preserving way. Just as in my last contribution, it is again a producer of beverages who is at the center of a trademark dispute. The German producer of…
On February 24, 2016, the General Court dismissed an action of the Coca-Cola Company and confirmed the decisions of OHIM and the Board of Appeal (case R 540/2013-2) by ruling that the known shape of the contour bottle of Coca-Cola without fluting lacks distinctive character and is thus not registerable as a 3D-Community trademark (GC…
