In an opposition proceeding brought by Frito-Lay North America against Real Foods Pty Ltd., the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board properly determined that the marks CORN THINS and RICE THINS were highly descriptive of their respective goods—”crispbread slices predominantly of corn, namely popped corn cakes” and “crispbread slices primarily made of rice, namely rice cakes”—and…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a trademark infringement suit filed by a Nashville restaurant called “The Row Kitchen and Pub” against a competing restaurant named “Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row.” Although the restaurants were direct competitors serving tourists visiting Nashville’s Music Row; offered inexpensive, pub-style food and drinks…
In February this year, the Swedish Patent and Market Court (“PMD”) ruled in favour of Volvo in a bad faith case regarding the mark “MADE BY SWEDEN” registered by Green Stapler. The mark Made by Sweden had been the centre of a campaign starring Swedish superstar football player Zlatan Ibrahimović and world-renowned Swedish artist Robyn…
A string of recent UK IPO decisions indicates that the Tribunal is willing to take a holistic and pragmatic view to an alleged bad faith filing. Many readers will be familiar with Michael Gleissner, the infamous modern day trade mark troll. Gleissner’s conduct has been scrutinised in a plethora of trade mark and domain name…
A German company’s interactive website, through which it assisted customers with improving their software products, was sufficient to subject the company to federal personal jurisdiction for purposes of a trademark infringement suit brought by a Maine company that owned a federally registered mark, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston has ruled. The German company…
The Regional Court of Munich was asked to decide on the question if an application for action by a right holder, based on the Customs Enforcement Regulation No. 608/2013 (“Customs Enforcement Regulation”), constitutes a dishonest obstruction of a competitor’s business under German unfair competition law. The court rejected the claim arguing that the provisions of…
The debate about the traditional terms, such as “torta”, has occupied Spanish case law for a long time and now the saga continues on an EU level. The main discussion is about whether the expression “torta” can be classified as a Traditional Designation. Background: The Regulatory Body for the Protected Designation of Origin of Queso…
In a contribution published in Berichten IE 2018/4, De Brauw lawyers Tobias Cohen Jehoram, Carlos van Staveren and Renate Keijser analyse all IP rulings handed down by the Dutch Supreme Court this century. The analysis helps IP specialists identify the right strategy in choosing and formulating grounds when appealing to the Supreme Court and how…
Ukraine is actively working on the implementation of European standards of trademark protection and is making significant efforts to fill the lacunas of the current trademark system. As the system is developing we provide a short overview of abuse of rights to trademarks. Article 6 quinquies of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial…
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board did not err when it found that the WU DANG TAI CHI GREEN TEA mark was confusingly similar to the registered mark TAI CHI, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Board’s findings as to the DuPont factors were supported by substantial evidence, in…
