Jurisdiction

Case law, United States

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The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board properly affirmed a trademark examining attorney’s refusal to register two proposed marks consisting of prominent wording—”SHIMMERING BALLERINAS & DANCERS CHARACTER COLLECTION” and “SHIMMERING RAINFOREST CHARACTER COLLECTION,” respectively—adjacent to three columns of hundreds of terms that appeared to be story titles or character names, the U.S. Court of Appeals for…

Appeal, Case law, EUTM, National marks, Spain, Supreme Court

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A recent Supreme Court judgement in the Dalí case shows clear respect for trademarks but raises some questions regarding image. A great many brands have used in their advertising campaigns the images of people who, despite no longer being alive, continue to have considerable selling power. There are even marketing studies which show that advertising…

Case law, Infringement action, Sweden

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In a decision of June 2, 2016 Svea Court of Appeal found Mars’ popular product “m&m’s” infringing Kraft Foods Sverige Intellectual Property AB’s non-registered trademark “m” in relation to candy and chocolates. Mars’ sales of products bearing the trademarks “m” and “m&m’s” were therefore prohibited in Sweden under the penalty of a fine of SEK…

Case law, United States

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A federal district court properly found that plaintiff Three Rivers Confections (TRC) owned the word marks FUDGETOPIA and FUDGIE WUDGIE through a lawful transfer by non-party Fudgie Wudgie L.P. (FWLP), the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has ruled. The district court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of Three Rivers Confections was therefore affirmed (Three…

United Kingdom

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In March 2016, the UKIPO refused registration of the mark A DOG IS FOR LIFE NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS in its entirety on the grounds that it would merely be seen as a non-distinctive inspirational and promotional strap line. The applicant (the Dogs Trust charity) argued that the mark had already been successfully registered in…

Case law, Denmark, EUTM, National marks

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Royal Copenhagen, the Danish porcelain company, claimed infringement by Porsgrund AS (hereafter Porsgrund) as it considered the Norwegian porcelain dinner service company’s dinner service sets called ‘MaxiStrå blå’ to constitute a violation of Royal Copenhagen’s rights to the porcelain dinner service sets called ‘Blue Fluted Mega’. Royal Copenhagen claimed infringement under the Danish Trademark Act,…

Case law, Infringement, The Netherlands

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On 15 July 2016 the PI judge in the District Court in The Hague, the Netherlands, rendered a decision in a banana case between competitors Chiquita and Fyffes International about a recently introduced new brand of Chiquita. The decision confirmed that descriptive elements cannot automatically be disregarded if these elements form a conceptual whole with…

Infringement, Kosovo

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The Administrative Instruction (AI) No. 08/2016, effective as of July 4, 2016 in Kosovo, relates to the accelerated examination of trademark applications, which is available if there has been an alleged infringement of trademark rights. When requesting such examination, the applicant must indicate the trademark filing details and submit: • Copy of the trademark application…

Case law, United States

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In a trademark infringement suit between two packing companies over rights in the name “PAKSTER,” the federal district court in Waterloo, Iowa, lacked jurisdiction to cancel two federal trademark registrations fraudulently obtained by defendant PI, Inc., because its rival, East Iowa Plastics, Inc., (“EIP”) failed to established that it suffered any damages as a result…