The Danish Maritime and Commercial Court (hereinafter “the Court”) decided, on 8 January 2025, to refer international trademark registration MP 1408424 for for confectionery in Class 30 (hereinafter referred to as “the teddy bear”) back to the Danish Patent and Trademark Office for renewed examination. The registration is owned by RiGO Trading S.A. which is…
Evidence that the defending firm’s ads confused consumers was “de minimis,” and online shoppers were savvy enough to distinguish between ads and organic search results. The sophisticated nature of online consumers, the lack of evidence of actual confusion, and other factors weighed against finding that there was a likelihood of confusion from a personal injury…
Federal Circuit rules Illinois litigation privilege bars claims in long-running trade dress dispute, but upholds some counterclaims. In a nonprecedential ruling that could impact how companies settle intellectual property disputes, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has overturned a $10 million jury verdict against tire manufacturer Toyo Tire Corporation. The court found…
However, the dissenting group’s use of the trademark on its website did not create a likelihood of confusion where the dissenters clearly identified the dispute between themselves and the Libertarian National Committee. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld in part, and denied in part, a district court’s preliminary injunction against the…
You may know the “Chewbacca Defence” from the South Park cartoon series. Here is a similarly confusing defence, which we named after the national dish of Hungary. The principle of acquiescence is meant to safeguard fairness and stability in commercial practices and trademark use. If a right holder becomes aware of the use of a…
A Puerto Rican chicken company abandoned its mark because it stopped using it for five years and never could offer any evidence of an intent to resume use. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has affirmed a Puerto Rican district court’s grant of summary judgment to To-Ricos for use of the mark…
In the first part of this series, we examined how geopolitical factors have contributed to a rise in trademark squatting, focusing on Russian companies taking advantage of foreign brands’ market exits due to sanctions. In this part, we delve into the case between LLC “ALAYV TRADE” and SANYO Electric Co. Ltd. “ALAYV TRADE” vs SANYO…
In its decision of 23 August 2024, the German Federal Patent Court ruled, inter alia, on the question whether a word mark is put into genuine use when it is used as part of a logo and displayed in a unique font (case no. 30 W (pat) 78/21). What happened? The opponent invoked, inter alia,…
District court did not abuse its discretion in determining that defendants’ profits did not result from use of infringing marks for airplane engine fuel injection systems. Though aircraft fuel-injector servo manufacturer Precision Airmotive, LLC, proved that defendants Avco Corporation and AVStar Fuel Systems, Inc., willfully infringed Precision’s federally registered trademark, it was not entitled to…
With an aim to align the Slovenian national industrial property law with the international law, Slovenia started implementing its amended Industrial Property Act. Both the trademark law and the patent laws have been amended to be harmonized with the European Union. A good time to have a chat with Gregor Maček of ITEM d.o.o, who…
