A trade mark is a distinctive sign which indicates the origin of goods and services, usually refers to a registered trade marks
On AG Szpunar’s Opinion in Case C-801/22 P BASMATI was the first of the appeals to the CJEU in the three „Brexit cases“. The other two are APE TEES (EUIPO v Nowhere, C-337/22 P) and SHOPPI (Shopify v EUIPO, C-751/22 P, see here and here)). The CJEU allowed all three appeals to proceed, and in…
All trademark news that you might have missed last month in one convenient overview. Read up on the latest news reported by the Kluwer IP Reporter. Angola joins DESIGNclass and expands TMClass coverage On 30 October, 2023, the National Institute of Industrial Property of Angola (IAPI-AO) joined DESIGNclass, the biggest database for product indications, and…
The murals were merely hidden from public view, not modified or destroyed. A law school that covered up two controversial murals with acoustic panels in order to hide them from public view did not violate the rights of the visual artist who created the murals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has…
With Judgment of 8 March 2023 (B-1974/2022), the Swiss Federal Administrative Court confirmed the rejection of an opposition by Apple against a trademark showing another stylized apple motif. According to the Swiss Federal Administrative Court, there is no likelihood of confusion between the trademarks shown below, which are claimed for various identical or similar goods…
Registrability of Works of Art as Trademarks Recently, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”) and the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (“HIPO”) have been asked in several cases to examine whether a work of art, in particular a painting, can be registered as a trademark. If a work of art is protected by copyright,…
In Case C-654/21, the CJEU ruled on a reference for a preliminary ruling from the Sąd Okręgowy w Warszawie (XXII Division of the District Court in Warsaw, Poland) in a dispute between two individuals. The dispute concerned an action for infringement of the European Union trade mark “MULTISELECT” brought before the Warsaw IP Court and…
Using country names as trademarks poses unique challenges, often conflicting with public order. Some countries worldwide have specific provisions in their national legislation for registering country names or letter codes of states as trademarks. The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property as of 1883 safeguards state symbols from unauthorized registration and use as…
This is about how generative AI could affect our writing: It seems that generative AI is good at creating clear and plain language, it can put difficult matters into simple terms. This ability inspires both anticipation and dread: anticipation that AI will bring relief from the grinding labour of writing well, dread that our own…
In a decision of this year, the District Court of Hamburg confirmed that an online-magazine article about so-called perfume dupes being “smell alikes” of well-known perfumes amounted to trademark infringement (decision of 26 January in Case 327 O 130/22). The claimants were exclusive licensees of several well-known trademarks for perfume for the territory of…
This post is the second of four, considering the decision of Smith J in Lidl v Tesco [2023] EWHC 873 (Ch), focusing on the passing off element of the judgment. Many were surprised that Lidl was successful on this ground, as it was not a traditional case of selling goods as those of another. Background…
