A trade mark is a distinctive sign which indicates the origin of goods and services, usually refers to a registered trade marks
In a judgment of 27 February 2019, the Swedish Patent and Market Court of Appeal (PMÖD) stated that a registration of a trademark in black and white cannot in itself result in protection in relation to all colour combinations. This is a turnaround of the practice established in Sweden since the 1960’s. The PMÖD has, unlike the Patent and…
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…
It was a long and cold winter in most of Canada – more so than usual and during that time, the Canadian IP community kept busy shoveling snow and preparing for the many amendments to Canada’s Trademarks Act, finally confirmed to be in force on June 17, 2019 (the “coming into force” or CIF date)….
In the US to indicate two things which are truly… incomparable, one says “oranges and apples”. In continental EU, we say “apples and pears”. This case deals indeed with apples and pears. On 31 January 2019, the General Court of the European Union had to decide about the similarity between an apple and a pear…
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…
On 14 January 2019, on the date of the deadline, the German Trademark Modernization Act entered into force (with the wonderfully uniquely German name of “Markenrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz” – short: “MaMoG”). The Trademark Modernization Act implements the mandatory and several optional provisions contained in the revised EU Trade Mark Directive 2015/2436 of 16 December 2015 in Germany….
It is longstanding practice in fashion to designate certain products not only by illegible article numbers, but by names. Many times male or female personal names are chosen. When there is a broad range of products, many names are needed by a fashion company. Many times these will not be needed for a long time,…
The Greek draft law implementing the European Trade Mark Directive 2015/2436 (the Directive) was uploaded on the compenet Ministry website for public consultation on January 11, 2019 and it will remain open for public consultation until January 25, 2019 (http://www.opengov.gr/ypoian/?p=9959). Upon completion of the public consultation, the draft law shall be brought before the Parliament…
As we enter a new year, we would like to take this opportunity to pass on our best wishes for 2019 to all of our readers, as well as reflect on developments in trademark law over the past year. Last year was a busy one with a number of landmark CJEU decisions and significant developments…
The Hungarian Parliament passed Act LXVII of 2018 (the ‘Amending Act), which is bringing about the most fundamental changes to trademark law since Hungary’s accession to the EU. The amendments will enter into force as of 1 January 2019. In a historical contect, Act XI of 1997 on Trademarks and Geographical Indications established modern trademark…
