EU trade mark law

Anti- Counterfeiting, Czech Republic, EU trade mark law, Exhaustion of rights, Grey online sales, Parallel imports, Trademark

(Havlik Svorcik & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

The Prague High Court as an appellate court issued its judgment in the case of Chanel S.A.S. against Notino s.r.o. (3 Cmo 107/2022-384 dated 28 November 2023) after an almost six-year legal battle with the Czech based online retailer Notino, a major European player in online sales of perfumery and cosmetics. The good news for…

Case law, CJEU, Defences, EU trade mark law, EUTM, functions, Genuine use, Infringement, Poland

(Osborne Clarke, University of Wrocław)/ /Leave a comment

On 25 January 2024 the CJEU issued the long-awaited judgement in the already famous AUDI case (C-334/22). This judgment confirms the possibility of Audi trade mark infringement in terms of the legal interpretation which will be further determined by a national court. The court ruled in AUDI’s favour, stating that a car manufacturer can prohibit…

Appeal, Brexit, CJEU, EU trade mark law

, (Bugnion S.p.A)/ /1 Comment

Since the introduction on 2019 of the filtering mechanism according to which the CJEU has to decide whether or not allow an appeal to proceed in cases that have already been considered twice (such as by the EUIPO’s Board of Appeal and by the General Court), only few appeals have been considered treating issues that…

Anti- Counterfeiting, Case law, CJEU, EU trade mark law, European Union, Grey online sales, Infringement, Preliminary ruling, Reputation, Selective distribution system, Trademark

(Osborne Clarke, University of Wrocław)/ /Leave a comment
Amazon

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…

Case law, CJEU, EU trade mark law, EUIPO, European Union, EUTM, Evidence, General Court, Genuine use, Invalidity, Likelihood of confusion, similarity of goods and services, Use requirement

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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…

EU trade mark law, EUIPO, General Court, Likelihood of confusion, Similarity of marks

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On 14 July 2021 the General Court (The Court) issued a decision in a matter between Cole Haan LLC (Cole Haan) and the Danish clothing company Samsøe and Samsøe Holding A/S (Samsøe and Samsøe) in the case T-399/20. The Court found the trademark applied for by Cole Haan consisting of the letter ‘Ø’ from the…

Case law, EU trade mark law, Germany

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The German Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) has issued a landmark decision on the relationship between national trademark law and the protection of geographical indications under EU law. The case is called “Hohenloher Landschwein / Hohenloher Weiderind”, with Hohenlohe being a region in Southern Germany, and Landschwein and Weiderind translating into country pork and grazing cattle, respectively…

Case law, EU trade mark law, Genuine use, Reputation

(Osborne Clarke, University of Wrocław)/ /Leave a comment

On 1 September 2021, Sony’s ‘Vita’ trade mark lost out in genuine use revocation proceedings in the EU General Court (see case T‑561/20). The trade mark Vita had been registered by Sony for a variety of class 9 items, including “data carriers containing programs” and “audio and/or image carriers (not of paper).” Vieta Audio applied…

CJEU, Distinctiveness, EU trade mark law, EUIPO

(PhD Candidate, University College London)/ /Leave a comment

Background On 1st March 2021, an updated version of the EUIPO Guidelines for examination of EU Trade Marks entered into force. Changes can be seen in the ‘track changes’ version. This reveals extensive revision throughout. As these changes are, inter alia, intended to align the Office’s procedures with recent decisions from the Court of Justice…

3D Trademark, Confusion, Countries, EU trade mark law, EUIPO, Spain

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The first instance court of Barcelona held that that the trade mark device of a dinosaur on a biscuit must remain in the public domain, ruling against the claimant in a trade mark and unfair competition lawsuit (judgement available here, and post here). The Appellate Court (judgement No. 629/2020 of March 23, 2020) has now…