The LEHMAN BROTHERS mark has been used continuously in the course of winding up the affairs of at least one Lehman Brothers affiliated company. In a case involving competing applications to register the mark LEHMAN BROTHERS, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal…
The Ninth Circuit clarified that the first sale doctrine was not meant to be limited to purchasers who do no more than stock, display, and resell a producer’s product. In a trademark infringement suit involving the use of Bluetooth technology in Fiat Chrysler vehicles, the Ninth Circuit in an interlocutory appeal reversed a Washington district…
The General Court (GC) recently overturned a decision from the EUIPO that an opposition based on earlier UK unregistered rights be rejected as, following the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, opponents could no longer rely upon the rules governing common law actions of passing off in EU oppositions. In this case, Jungo Ye…
Poland introduced specialized IP Courts on July 1, 2020, resulting in significant changes to preventive measures, including the conditions for requesting information regarding an infringement of an intellectual property right. The IP Court in Warsaw has in the meantime referred a preliminary question to the Court of Justice (CJEU), namely: does one have to demonstrate…
The prince and his prince house – where he lived happily ever after The Swiss Federal Administrative Court, as the appeal authority in opposition proceedings, supported the decision of the FIIP and ruled that there was a likelihood of confusion between the younger trademark “Prinzenhaus” (engl. prince house) and the earlier trademark “Prinz” (engl. prince)…
The UK finally said bye-bye to the EU, but for how long will UK-based rights still matter in deciding EUTM-related controversies? This is the subject of two recent decisions by the General Court, i.e. the Basmati case, T‑342/20, decided on October 6, 2021, and the subsequent APE TEES case, T‑281/21, decided on March 16, 2022. In…
On 4 March 2021, the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court (the Court) issued a decision between Mads Heindorf Jewellery (Mads Heindorf) and the company Heindorf Diamonds. The dispute regarded the jeweler Mads Heindorf’s trademark for the word “Heindorf”, which was asserted infringed by Heindorf Diamonds’ use of the name “Heindorf Diamonds” in relation to…
The Israeli Deputy Registrar, in a recent decision, overturned a rejection made by the examiner, and allowed the registration of a trademark for the Hebrew transliteration of “Chef Line” in classes 11 and 35 (Trademark Application No. 315406). In her decision, the Deputy Registrar accepted the arguments of the applicant, A.M. Chef Line Limited, which…
The Madrid Protocol makes it possible to extend protections from an international registration to the United States. A United States District Court has just cautioned practitioners that they must satisfy the intent to use requirements for all United States trademark applications before availing themselves of this tool. A recent contest between Oatly AB and D’s…
The jury instruction improperly stated that the plaintiff was required to show willfulness for an award of profits. Jury instructions given during a trial over whether a whale-watching company and its affiliates violated the Lanham Act by engaging in materially false or misleading advertising about their business failed to recite the correct legal standard, the…
