European Union Trade Mark (EUTM), a single trade mark registration covering all of the EU Member States.
‘Dormant trademarks’ are unused trademarks which remain on the register until the competent authority declares them revoked (this denomination comes from Verena von Bomhard’s article ‘Dormant Trademarks in the European Union – Swords of Damocles?’, The Trademark Reporter, Vol. 96 September-October, 2006 No. 5). Under current Hungarian rules these dormant trademarks can cause trouble if…
In the recent decision W.F. Gözze Frottierweberei Gmbh, Wolfgang Gözze GmbH v Verein Bremer Baumwollbörse, case C-689/15, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) analyzes an issue which the EUTMR rules do not clearly resolve, i.e. whether or not a licensed EUTM registration may be invalidated if the owner fails to carry out quality controls on licensee/licensees’ products. The dispute arose between a German cotton textiles industry association (the…
In the M/S. Indeutsch International case concerning the validity of the “Chevron” device shown above (T-20/16 of 21 June 2017), the General Court held that the mark (described in the registration as “a repeated geometric design”) could not be seen as representing the appearance of the goods for which it was registered, namely knitting needles and crochet…
County Kerry in Ireland, a beautiful region in the South known for its cattle breeding, is known to many trademark practitioners from the early CJEU trademark judgment in GERRI vs. KERRY SPRING (C-100/02, Gerolsteiner Brunnen). It has just become the protagonist of another CJEU judgment: In a case heard before the Audiencia Provincial in…
In a decision of a Dutch District Court earlier this year[1], the American fast-food chain Wendy’s suffered a loss against a local Dutch snack restaurant, which bears the name WENDY’S. The trademark registration owned by the same snack restaurant blocks the American chain to enter the market. Although this case has similarities with the story…
The Spanish Supreme Court has concluded that it is not appropriate to waive the Court jurisdiction from the defendant’s domicile (in this case Italy), which had ruled against the claimant, by creating a link with another entity that it is domicile in another European country (in this case Spain), when that connection is not sufficiently…
Lionsgate and Dirty Dancing Lionsgate Entertainment Inc. owns the rights to the film Dirty Dancing, released in 1987. The film is iconic for its dance scenes and its message of love conquering everything. It has earned hundreds of millions from box office and DVD sales. Lionsgate and their licensees have released many other works, products…
After some 10 years, the Lambretta saga has finally come to an end, but it might not really matter that much… anymore. LAMBRETTA is a famous vintage brand for scooters, which has been acquired by Scooters India Ltd (yet another famous European vehicle brand that has landed in India). While the scooters as such have not…
World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. World of Warcraft takes place within the fantasy Warcraft world of Azeroth. Alone or together with others the player has to solve quests in order to level up and have more possibilities. Since some of these quests…
Nvidia Corp v Hardware Labs (GTX) [2016] EWHC 3135 Ch For manufactures of steam engines in the late 19th century, tactics of systematically threatening to sue your competitors’ customers for infringement of intellectual property rights were fair game. Nowadays, businesses in the UK have to contend with the laws on unjustified threats which prohibit such…
