The body of law drawn from the precedents set by earlier decisions.
On 17 September the CJEU handed down a long-awaited judgment on a matter that thrilled sports fans and the IP community (C-449/18P, C-474/18P, available in French and Spanish). Footballer Lionel Messi Cuccittini is allowed to register his surname as a trademark for a sportswear brand after a nine-year legal battle. The trade mark is a…
Costco raised triable issues of fact as to its liability for infringement and counterfeiting and whether its use of “Tiffany” to describe a ring style was fair use. The federal district court in Manhattan erred in concluding as a matter of law that Costco’s use of the word “Tiffany” to describe diamond engagement rings amounted…
A permanent injunction preventing an ex-band member from touring as “The Commodores featuring Thomas McClary” extended extrajudicially to European performances. In a long-running dispute in which Commodores Entertainment Corp. (CEC) has repeatedly prevailed in its efforts to stop former Commodores member Thomas McClary from using the “Commodores” name in musical performances, the U.S. Court of…
The existence of a contractual relationship between the two parties was not a prerequisite to the power of the district court to adjudicate the breach of contract claim. Whether the assignment of a trademark for a brand of children’s products was valid was a question of contractual standing rather than Article III standing, the U.S….
We’ve been seeing a lot more interest from life sciences companies in applying for slogans recently. After all, advertising campaigns are increasingly a fierce battlefield for IP litigation. However, slogan marks often run at but rarely manage to take the hurdle of distinctiveness applied by the EUIPO and usually confirmed by the European Courts. Two…
Seller’s appeal of district court’s judgment against it was frivolous because its arguments had virtually no likelihood of success, and the appeal seemingly was pursued for purposes of delay. In a trademark infringement suit between the maker of the dietary supplement Prevagen against an Internet seller for the unauthorized and unlawful sale of Prevagen products,…
Obtaining the status of a well-known trademark in Russia enables a right holder to prohibit any third parties from the unauthorized use of similar marks for whatever goods and services without any time limitations and makes them free from payments of renewal fees. However, although a brand could be very popular among Russian customers and…
The German Federal Supreme Court today once more decided on cancellation claims against German trademark registrations for square-shaped packaging for chocolate products (Decision of 23 July 2020 in Cases I ZB 42/19 und I ZB 43/19). According to the Court’s press release, it confirmed a decision by the Federal Patent Court which rejected the…
Further to Estelle Derclaye’s Kluwer Blog Post, a copy of which can be found here, we take a look at the practical consequences for manufacturers of the recent request for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) by the Belgian Company Court, within copyright infringement proceedings brought by SI…
While it is appropriate for a district court to adopt the findings of fact of a magistrate judge’s report and recommendations when deciding a motion for a preliminary injunction, it cannot do so when deciding a motion for summary judgment. A district court’s summary judgment order ruling that a vacation tour company violated the Anti-Cybersquatting…
