The EU is an economic and political association of certain European countries as a unit with internal free trade and common external tariffs.
The Austrian Supreme Court (short “the Court”) denied a motion for a preliminary injunction (short “PI”) against the use of the mark “Duff (BEER)” based on the Claimant’s EUTM “Duff”, since the EUTM could be declared invalid on the basis of Defendant’s earlier German trademark rights (decision of 27.01.2016, 4 Ob 183/15p – DUFF Beer)….
Slovak domain name registry administering .sk top level domain names SK-NIC published new Registration Rules and Dispute Resolution Rules effective as of 9 January 2017. The Registration Rules newly allow to hold a .sk domain name to any individual or legal entity having an address of service in any EU, EEA or EFTA Member State….
A lifestyle and hospitality company well known for its luxurious beach clubs and hotels, has recently succeeded in registering EPICUREAN LOUNGE word mark in the European Union. While the OHIM examiner initially refused the application on the grounds of descriptiveness, an appeal reversed the examiner’s decision. In September 2014, Nikki Beach filed a community trademark application…
In September 2015 the German Bundesgerichtshof (BGH), Germany’s highest civil court, decided questions regarding the conversion of a Community Trademark into a national German trademark. The outcome was painful. The ruling greatly weakened the Community trademark system. The case was referred back to the appeal court (OLG Düsseldorf) which will hopefully refer the case to…
In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal of The Hague concluded that there is a confusing similarity between Lacoste’s device mark consisting of a picture of a crocodile, registered for (among other things) cosmetic products in class 3, and the word mark EAU CROCO for the same products. The case concerned an application by…
CJEU 16 July 2015, C-681/13, Diageo Brands/Simiramida available here Law can be strange and European law even stranger. The CJEU decision in this case reads as another fantasy novel where European exhaustion has become worldwide and an infringement a perfectly permissible act. All this because the overall principle of mutual trust in the administration of…
OHIM recently published procedural rules surrounding the important issue of the scope of CTM specifications of goods and services. These follow on from the new provisions of Article 28 EUTMR and trace back to the IP Translator decision. The new rules come in to effect on 23 March 2016 as part of a raft of…
OHIM has released Communication 2/2016 of the President clarifying that the new fee regime will apply to all CTMs (then EUTMs) that expire on or after 23 March 2016 – even where renewal is requested before that date. All CTMs expiring before that date are subject to the current renewal fees. The new EU Trademark…
The European trademark package published in the EU Official Journal on 24 December 2015 brings numerous amendments of the EU Trademark Regulation and EU Trademark Directive. From the point of view of Czech and Slovak Industrial Property Offices, the reform package will result in a major procedural novelty consisting in the applicant’s right to require…
On 20 January 2016, the Chancery Division of the High Court issued its judgment on the latest appeal concerning Nestlé’s attempt to register the 3D shape of its four-fingered bar. Sadly for Nestlé, in a double blow, Mr Justice Arnold dismissed their appeal against an earlier decision to refuse the registration of their shape mark…
