Registering and using a trade mark representing an animal is a common practice in the clothing industry. Consequently, proprietors often oppose younger signs which show the same animal. We can for example think of the famous crocodile of Lacoste and all the disputes related to its protection over decades. A recent judgment by the General…
On 28 May 2020 the General Court rendered its most recent ruling regarding enhanced protection of trade marks with a reputation (T-677/18; available in French and Spanish). Two issues are of particular interest in this judgment. First, how to prove reputation, as well as distinctiveness, of a mark consisting of the shape of the product…
On 30 April 2020, Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella (AG) delivered his opinion in the matter C809/18 P related to the conditions for application of Article 8(3) of Regulation 2017/1001 which provides a specific ground for refusal allowing owners of, in practice foreign, marks to oppose filings for EU trade marks made by their agent or…
