A trade mark is a distinctive sign which indicates the origin of goods and services, usually refers to a registered trade marks
Intellectual property law is designed to confer exclusive protections to intangible assets, to be used in compliance with honest commercial practices. In the absence of a statutory definition of what constitutes bad faith, a body of case law has been necessary to illuminate the threshold of behavioural demerit sufficient to disqualify owners from the benefits…
genuine use of an EU trademark within the EU for services provided outside the EU a summary of decision T‑768/20 of the General Court of the EU The background of this decision was an application for revocation for non-use against the EUTM owned by Standard International Management LLC, a US company. Yes, this is…
On 13 October 2022 the Court of Justice (CJ) issued a preliminary ruling on corrective measures under the Enforcement Directive 2004/48. In this case (Case C-355/21), Procter & Gamble filed a trademark infringement claim against the Polish company perfumesco.pl. Procter & Gamble produced the perfume under the exclusive licence of the HUGO BOSS word-trademark. In…
With Judgment of 30 August 2022 the Swiss Federal Court has fully granted Lindt & Sprüngli’s injunction against Lidl and has prohibited Lidl from producing and distributing copies of the Lindt Gold Bunny. This Judgment implies that Lidl is no longer allowed to sell Gold Bunny look-alikes in Switzerland and must destroy any remaining stock…
The long running dispute between Sky and SkyKick is not due to end any time soon. SkyKick has been granted permission to appeal the 2021 decision of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s findings are expected to provide important guidance for brand owners regarding whether broad scope trade mark specifications…
With Judgment of 6 April 2022, the Federal Supreme Court upheld FIFA’s claim that the marks “PUMA WORLD CUP QATAR 2022” and “PUMA WORLD CUP 2022” were misleading, ordered these marks to be removed from the register and referred the case back to the Zurich Commercial Court to decide on the question of injunctive relief…
The debate over the protection of the iconic “AUDI” logo in Poland is currently being renewed (see here). An injunction was sought by AUDI to stop another party from importing, offering, marketing, and advertising radiator grilles that bear a sign that is identical to or similar to its EU trade mark (“EUTM”) for the following…
Summary The owner of a boutique store, Ms. Kotrri (Applicant), successfully defended her trade mark application before the UKIPO for HOUSE OF ZANA, covering “clothing” in class 25, against apparel retailer, Inditex (Opponent). The Opponent sought to prevent registration on the basis of Sections 5(2)(b) and 5(3) of the Trade Marks Act 1994 and relied…
This decision by the High Court – Lavinia Deborah Osbourne v (1) Individuals Unknown (2) Ozone Networks Inc. – has now confirmed that NFTs should be considered property. The facts of this case are that Ms. Osbourne’s MetaMask wallet was used without her knowledge or permission and two NFTs representing digital pieces of art were…
In case you are engaged in a “hot dispute” in this hot summer, so as to “cool-off” a bit, this is to start a discussion about settlement options for pending litigation. [A lawsuit taking a good long snooze …] A recent decision of the Austrian Supreme Court (short “OGH”) dealt with the procedural…
