The body of law drawn from the precedents set by earlier decisions.
Earlier this year, the Civil Court of Santiago[1] ruled in favour of Catalina Abbott, a famous Chilean artist, issuing a historic judgment in relation to the protection of her moral and economic rights as an author. The ruling established that the conduct of a local vineyard regarding one of Abbott’s works caused moral and economic…
With decision of 25th February 2019, the German Federal Patent Court (Bundespatentgericht) has ruled on the registrability of a celebrity name for inter alia publications in class 16. The Bundespatentgericht is the appeals court for decisions of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA). Franziska van Almsick, one of the most successful swimmers of recent…
By the end of June, the US Supreme Court will have ruled on the registrability of scandalous and immoral marks in Iancu (USPTO) v Brunetti (No. 18-302). The case raises the issue of whether, in light of free speech under the First Amendment, a ban on the trademark registration of “immoral” or “scandalous” marks should…
Kroma Makeup EU, LLC, a trademark licensee, lacked standing to assert trademark infringement claims against the Kardashian sisters and a U.S. beauty product seller, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Following a suit filed by the owner of the KROMA mark against the Kardashians and a beauty product manufacturer for infringement, Kroma…
On 26 September 2018, Division II of the Federal Court of Appeals of the City of Buenos Aires issued a decision in “Re adidas AG v. Juan Carlos Chillemi SRL seeking discontinuance of use and damages” (File No. 5423/2010) confirming the decision of the trial court. adidas owns trademark registrations for the “three-stripes” design in…
A seller of parody tote bags that prevailed on trademark infringement, dilution, and copyright infringement claims brought by Louis Vuitton was not entitled to recover attorney fees. Case date: 15 March 2019 Case number: No. 18-293-cv. Court: United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP…
The Third Circuit ruled that Galderma Laboratories owned the trademark to “Restoraderm” pursuant to a 2002 contract between Galderma’s predecessor in interest and the individual inventor of “Restoraderm,” reversing a lower court ruling that the inventor owned the trademark because a subsequent 2004 contract superseded the 2002 agreement. Case date: 26 February 2019 Case number: No….
Express Oil Change’s use of the phrase “Tire Engineers” in its Mississippi centers was protected commercial speech. Case date: 19 February 2019 Case number: No. 18-60144 Court: United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.
In the beginning of this year a decision regarding the trademark right to the name of the iconic Danish faience set with the thin blue line on the edges, was issued by the Danish Maritime and Commercial Court (Decision no. BS.9705/2017-SHR of 18 January 2019). Both the designer of the faience set as pictured here,…
The discrepancy between the case law using geographical origin as a reason for rejection of a trademark in the EU and at the DKPTO, respectively, is becoming increasingly noticeable; most recently with the judgement from the General Court in T-122/17 DEVIN on the registrability of the geographical name DEVIN. The discrepancy concerns the issue when…
