Kroma Makeup EU, LLC, a trademark licensee, lacked standing to assert trademark infringement claims against the Kardashian sisters and a U.S. beauty product seller, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Following a suit filed by the owner of the KROMA mark against the Kardashians and a beauty product manufacturer for infringement, Kroma…

On 26 September 2018, Division II of the Federal Court of Appeals of the City of Buenos Aires issued a decision in “Re adidas AG v. Juan Carlos Chillemi SRL seeking discontinuance of use and damages” (File No. 5423/2010) confirming the decision of the trial court. adidas owns trademark registrations for the “three-stripes” design in…

The question of how far descriptive or non-distinctive trademarks which somehow managed to be registered may be enforced is of particular relevance in jurisdictions like Germany which acknowledge their incontestability ten years after registration. The more recent approach of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was that it accepted likelihood of confusion also in a…

On 20th March 2019, the US Patent and Trademark Office had to decide about the conflict between the trademarks of Nike and Cheryl Bauman-Buffone. Cheryl Bauman-Buffone sought registration of her mark “JUST SAY IT” for books and downloadable e-books, both in “in the field of promoting healthy lifestyles encompassing physical, social, emotional and spiritual aspects…

A seller of parody tote bags that prevailed on trademark infringement, dilution, and copyright infringement claims brought by Louis Vuitton was not entitled to recover attorney fees. Case date: 15 March 2019 Case number: No. 18-293-cv. Court: United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP…

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the UK government, and what can now only be described as the Brexit nightmare rumbles on. Despite the deadline for the UK’s departure from the EU being just over a week away, we are still no clearer on how or when exactly this will take place, with…

The Third Circuit ruled that Galderma Laboratories owned the trademark to “Restoraderm” pursuant to a 2002 contract between Galderma’s predecessor in interest and the individual inventor of “Restoraderm,” reversing a lower court ruling that the inventor owned the trademark because a subsequent 2004 contract superseded the 2002 agreement. Case date: 26 February 2019 Case number: No….

Yet another trademark dispute has been taken to court by APPLE. This time, APPLE lodged a trademark opposition against the letter „j“ trademark of an Italian incorporation by the name „Steve Jobs“ in front of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court (FAC) (B-1176/2017 (FAC)). After APPLE had failed to cancel the opposed trademark before the Institute…

Express Oil Change’s use of the phrase “Tire Engineers” in its Mississippi centers was protected commercial speech. Case date: 19 February 2019 Case number: No. 18-60144 Court: United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.