Denmark

Acquired Distinctiveness, Article 8(4) EUTMR, Coexistence, Denmark, descriptive, Lack of distinctiveness, Legal costs, National law

(Zacco Advokatanpartsselskab)/ /Leave a comment

Two sports companies, Sports Group Denmark A/S (“Sports Group”) and WaterNlife ApS (“WaterNlife”) conflicted over the use of ENDURANCE as a trademark for sports clothing. Sports Group had registered the device trademark However, the trademark was not used as registered. Mostly, Sports Group used the mark in a much simpler and minimalistic version that looked…

China, Denmark, Infringement, Reputation, WIPO

(Zacco Advokatanpartsselskab)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Acquired Distinctiveness, Appeal, cancellation, Denmark, descriptive, Evidence, Lack of distinctiveness

(Zacco Advokatanpartsselskab)/ /Leave a comment

In Denmark – as in the EU – it is possible to overcome an absolute ground for refusal based on non-distinctive character of the mark applied for if the applicant is able to provide proof that the mark applied for has acquired distinctive character through use prior to the application date, see Article 7(3) EUTMR…

Denmark, Trademark

, (Gorrissen Federspiel)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent ruling from 15 August 2019 (BS-6392/2019 SHR) the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court found that the conditions for issuing a preliminary injunction against the clothing company Message A/S (Message) had not been fulfilled since the alleged infringement did not constitute a sufficient basis for issuing a preliminary injunction. According to the…

Anti- Counterfeiting, Bad faith, Brand Protection, Defences, Denmark, Transit of goods

(Zacco Advokatanpartsselskab)/ /Leave a comment

We need all the help we can get to fight counterfeit goods. Counterfeit goods are produced and distributed by organised criminal groups and this crime represents as much as 2.5 per cent of world trade, or USD 461 billion. For more information see Europol’s webpage here: https://www.europol.europa.eu/crime-areas-and-trends/crime-areas/intellectual-property-crime/counterfeiting-and-product-piracy. A Danish researcher and associate professor, Thomas Just…

Denmark, descriptive, Lack of distinctiveness, Registrability

, (Gorrissen Federspiel)/ /Leave a comment

A trademark registration of a color per se is notoriously difficult to achieve, but what about the name of a color? In two recent decisions from the Danish Board of Appeal (BOA) regarding the registration of the words MAGENTA and CREAM respectively, the question regarding the descriptiveness of color designations was the main issue. In…

Acquired Distinctiveness, Case law, Denmark

, (Gorrissen Federspiel)/ /Leave a comment

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,…

Case law, Denmark, Registrability

(Zacco Advokatanpartsselskab)/ /Leave a comment

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…

3D Trademark, Denmark, EUTM

(Zacco Advokatanpartsselskab)/ /Leave a comment

The Danish Parliament, Folketinget, passed a new Danish Trademark Act (TMA) on 20 November 2018. The TMA implements the harmonisation of the relevant EU directive (Directive (EU) 2015/2436 of 16 December 2015). The new TMA will implement a number of changes, including: It becomes optional whether or not to have earlier rights cited during the…

Case law, Denmark, Infringement

, (Gorrissen Federspiel)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent decision from 1 October 2018 (B-2740-17) the Danish Eastern High Court affirmed a decision of the Danish Commercial Court from December 2017 (V-8-17) in which the court had ruled that a café in Copenhagen had infringed the trademark rights and copyrights to the character Obelix which rightfully belongs to Les Editions Albert…