An efficient, reliable and cost-effective route for protecting trademarks globally through the Madrid Agreement or the Madrid Protocol will be beneficial for IP-right holders. For a period of five years from the date of the international registration, the protection resulting from the international registration remains dependent on the BASIC application or registration also known as…
I. Facts The Italian fashion house Furla SpA has obtained a recent victory in an opposition in China against a local competitor. Furla SpA was opposing the Chinese trademark “芙拉帝诺”(FU LA DI NUO) in class 25. The characters “芙拉” (FU LA), are used by Chinese consumers when referring to “FURLA”. Regrettably, the client had not secured this Chinese name through a trademark registration…
On 17 January 2018, the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) held that affixing a prior trademark, without consent, to products exclusively intended for export to and lawful sale in China constitutes trademark infringement. The dispute involved the French wine company Castel Frères, owner of a number of French and European trademarks for alcoholic beverages and…
1. Background In June 2008, China announced the Outline of National IP Strategy (“IP Strategy”), which set up a roadmap for China to become a country of high level of IP creation, utilization and protection by 2020. As a key part of the IP Strategy, China committed to carry out a number of judicial reforms…
A recent judgment by the Beijing IP Court has thwarted Apple’s attempts to obtain trademark protection for the standby screen of the iWatch! Apple may appeal this judgment. On 13 November 2014 Apple had applied to file the sign depicted in Figure 1 as a trademark in China in classes 9, 10, 14, and 38….
