The body of law drawn from the precedents set by earlier decisions.
That is the question that was recently answered by the Board of Appeal of the Dutch Advertising Code Authority. The TM symbol stands for “trademark” and is traditionally used for unregistered trademarks in various jurisdictions such as the US. Conversely, the ® symbol is used to indicate a trademark has been registered. However, in the…
On 18 July 2017, the General Court held that the two designs shown here produced the same overall impression (case T-57/16; not yet available in English). The EUIPO – both first and second instance – had held otherwise. The Cancellation Division described the designs as superimposed C’s (Chanel’s logo) and 3’s (the design under attack),…
The Federal Administrative Court partially overturned a decision of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) refusing protection for Apple’s word mark “iMessage” for telecommunication services in class 38. The Administrative Court agreed with the IPO that “iMessage” lacked original distinctiveness for messaging services, because such services were closely linked to the internet,…
The U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City has affirmed a district court’s decision that Macy’s Merchandising Group’s MAISON JULES line of women’s clothing—a private brand sold almost exclusively in Macy’s stores—did not infringe the trademark JOULES, owned by clothing retailer Joules Limited. Consumer confusion between the parties’ marks was not likely. Although the…
The Cologne Higher Regional Court was asked to decide on an alleged infringement of German unfair competition law by the look of a trade dress of tea drinks bottles. In summary, the court rejected the claim since the bottles of the parties showed different product and manufacturer names (judgment of 28 April 2017, Case 6…
A federal district court did not err in awarding a preliminary injunction to Kourtney, Kim, and Khloe Kardashian and their companies—2Die4Kourt, Kimsaprincess Inc., and Khlomoney Inc.—that barred Hillair Capital Management and four related individuals and entities from using the Kardashians’ trademarks, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled. The preliminary injunction was…
The case of CWS-Lackfabrik Conrad W. Schmidt GmbH & Co. KG v Policolor, looks at traditional issues as likelihood of confusion, but also at the thorny issue of whether earlier rights need to be valid at the time of issuing a decision or only at the relevant date for the cause of action. Lackfabrik owned the…
To what extend can a business claim reputed trademark as a basis for infringement proceedings or for raising objections against another business’ trademark registration in Denmark? A recent judgement of the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court (the Court) between ECCO and EKKOfonden has given some further guidance on this matter, indicating that even in…
The federal district court in Charlotte, North Carolina, did not err in finding thatGrayson O Company’s registered mark “F 450” for a line of hair care products was not infringed by Agadir International’s hair care products sold under the mark HAIR SHIELD 450°, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, has held. despite the…
The federal district court in Bowling Green, Kentucky, correctly held that a horse-race gambling platform (the “System”) developed by defendant Exacta Systems and used by defendant Kentucky Downs at its horse–racing track, did not infringe the trademarks owned by several plaintiff owners of horse-racing tracks when it displayed information, including the names of the plaintiffs’…
