A district court was too hasty in rejecting the safe distance rule. A federal district court in Detroit must reconsider its decision to allow the Indian maker of an off-road vehicle to release a redesigned product that ostensibly did not infringe the trade dress of the venerable Jeep brand, the U.S. Court of Appeals for…
Most often, my blogs here relate to Canadian trademark practice – always changing and often of interest to trademark owners and practionners. This time however, I’m writing about mid-career transitions, which have become increasingly common amongst IP professionals and has affected many people I know all over the world. These can be challenging experiences to…
19/10/2022 T-275/21, DEVICE OF A CHEQUERBOARD PATTERN (fig.), EU:T:2022:654 The French designer’s iconic fabric, one that is no stranger to catwalks and maison de couture around the world, has found itself in the courtroom, again, after a 5 year battle with the EUIPO. The fashion conscious and lovers of luxury will surely be familiar with…
The district court erred in considering the failure to produce evidence of actual confusion at this preliminary stage, but the error did not affect the outcome. The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware correctly denied a preliminary injunction after it concluded that the trademark holder failed to provide evidence of irreparable harm in the absence…
In a recent decision (T-726/21), the General Court (“GC”) confirmed that Rolex SA (“Rolex”) could not prevent the Danish fashion brand “Junk de Luxe” (owned by the company PWT A/S) from registering a trademark for their logo depicting a crown. The contested sign was among others filed for goods covering clothing, footwear and headgear in…
There has been a new positive development for the world-famous Rubik’s Cube in proceedings in France against a former distributor. In a decision of 19 November 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal prohibited the marketing by a former distributor of a lookalike puzzle cube reproducing the characteristics of the Rubik’s Cube, holding that the former…
The EUTM Appellate Court of Alicante has confirmed the pan- European injunction preventing the manufacture and commercialization of unauthorized versions of Ferrari’s one-off models by 3D printing Court decision no. 7/23 of 10 February 2023 of the EUTM Court of Alicante has confirmed the interim measures aimed at preventing the manufacture and commercialization of…
The decision in question, made by the General Court of the EU – Standard International Management LLC v EUIPO – has clarified that use of EU trade marks in advertisements and offers for sale constitute acts of use of an EU trade mark. This case revolved around an EU trade mark that Standard Hotels applied…
(image from www.audimediacenter.com) Last month the Regional Court Munich I (Germany) had to decide on a trademark dispute between Audi (the Plaintiff) and the Chinese car manufacturer Nio (the Defendant). The Plaintiff is the proprietor of the German trademarks “S 6” and “S 8” for “Automotive vehicles and their structural parts”. The Defendant…
A recent decision of the EUIPO’s Fourth Board of Appeal (BOA) dealing with conversion deserves a closer look at this instrument, and at the practice of the EUIPO relating to conversion (decision of September 26, 2022, Case R 1241/2020-4). To recap: when an EUTM application fails, or a registered EUTM is cancelled, it can be converted…
