The Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest Court within the EU.
This is about how generative AI could affect our writing: It seems that generative AI is good at creating clear and plain language, it can put difficult matters into simple terms. This ability inspires both anticipation and dread: anticipation that AI will bring relief from the grinding labour of writing well, dread that our own…
Another high-profile Louboutin case, although this time it’s less about the protection of the red sole as such than the liability of online retail platforms. The Court of Justice (CJEU) handed down a preliminary ruling in a case involving Christian Louboutin on the one hand and Amazon on the other, one referred from Luxembourg and…
genuine use of an EU trademark within the EU for services provided outside the EU a summary of decision T‑768/20 of the General Court of the EU The background of this decision was an application for revocation for non-use against the EUTM owned by Standard International Management LLC, a US company. Yes, this is…
A judgment of the General Court demonstrates the controversial and problematic nature of retail services marks. The ALDI/ALDIANO Case The case concerns Aldi, the discount chain. An Aldi entity (in the following “Aldi”) filed an application for the declaration of invalidity against the EUTM ALDIANO, registered for “alcoholic beverages (except beers)” (class 33). Aldi relied…
So you finally got your trademark registration and now you can go ahead and use it, and get back some good revenues out of your hard work. But what if you put your trademark on a product manufactured by a third party? Can you end up being held liable for damages caused by a defect…
On 13 October 2022 the Court of Justice (CJ) issued a preliminary ruling on corrective measures under the Enforcement Directive 2004/48. In this case (Case C-355/21), Procter & Gamble filed a trademark infringement claim against the Polish company perfumesco.pl. Procter & Gamble produced the perfume under the exclusive licence of the HUGO BOSS word-trademark. In…
First it was getting a registration as a trademark for the name of a State (see at https://trademarkblog.kluweriplaw.com/2022/03/28/mission-impossible-register-the-name-of-a-state-as-a-trademark/). Now, it is getting the European Union Court of Justice (CJEU) to review a decision of the General Court (GC) on trademark and design matters arising from the EUIPO Boards of Appeal. As already reported (see at…
The debate over the protection of the iconic “AUDI” logo in Poland is currently being renewed (see here). An injunction was sought by AUDI to stop another party from importing, offering, marketing, and advertising radiator grilles that bear a sign that is identical to or similar to its EU trade mark (“EUTM”) for the following…
The EU trademark law system does not have, unlike the US, a legal concept of “incontestability”. Instead, it has “acquiescence”, a defence against invalidity or infringement actions which can be raised against the owner of an earlier mark who has acquiesced, for a period of five successive years, in the use of a later registered…
Primo July we published an article about the Advocate General’s opinion on the use of protected designations of origin (PDO) for export to third countries. Read the article here. With the recent judgment from European Court of Justice (ECJ) in case C-159/20, it is established that the opinion has been followed in its substance. The…
