The LEHMAN BROTHERS mark has been used continuously in the course of winding up the affairs of at least one Lehman Brothers affiliated company. In a case involving competing applications to register the mark LEHMAN BROTHERS, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal…

Yet another Feta case has reached the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This time the question is whether the Kingdom of Denmark is obliged to stop Danish cheese producers from using the protected designation of origin (PDO) Feta for cheese exported to third countries. Historically production and export of cheese under the name Feta existed…

When a IP court awards the winning party the reimbursement of the costs incurred,  what exactly can be included in such an award and how to determine its amount is not always obvious. Surely it is curious that the Court of Justice (CJEU) dealt with these issues in two recent decisions, both  issued last April…

The Ninth Circuit clarified that the first sale doctrine was not meant to be limited to purchasers who do no more than stock, display, and resell a producer’s product. In a trademark infringement suit involving the use of Bluetooth technology in Fiat Chrysler vehicles, the Ninth Circuit in an interlocutory appeal reversed a Washington district…

Poland introduced specialized IP Courts on July 1, 2020, resulting in significant changes to preventive measures, including the conditions for requesting information regarding an infringement of an intellectual property right. The IP Court in Warsaw has in the meantime referred a preliminary question to the Court of Justice (CJEU), namely: does one have to demonstrate…

Read up on the latest news reported by the Kluwer IP Reporter here. Colombia publishes practice paper on figurative marks The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) of the Columbian Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism has published a practice paper giving a comprehensive explanation about the principles to examine figurative marks that have descriptive…

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court upheld FIFA’s claim and found that the figurative marks “PUMA WORLD CUP QATAR 2022” and “PUMA WORLD CUP 2022” were misleading. At the same time, it ruled on the counterclaim by Puma that the trademarks “WORLD CUP 2022” and “Qatar 2022” refer descriptively to the World Cup event and are…

The prince and his prince house – where he lived happily ever after  The Swiss Federal Administrative Court, as the appeal authority in opposition proceedings, supported the decision of the FIIP and ruled that there was a likelihood of confusion between the younger trademark “Prinzenhaus” (engl. prince house) and the earlier trademark “Prinz” (engl. prince)…