On 21st December 2021, the General Court (GC), in case T-369/20, dealt with “likelihood of association” setting out a double test which seems to be at odds with the previous case law, notably the…
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) held in its decision C-541/18 of September 12, 2019 that the distinctive character of a sign applied for as a trademark –a prerequisite of eligibility for…
On 5 November 2021, the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court (the Court) issued a ruling between Kejser Sausage ApS (‘Kejser Sausage’) and Keyser KBH ApS among others (‘Keyser’).
The case…
Unregistered rights are protected by the law of passing off in the UK. In the recent decision of the IPEC in Stone v Wenman, the court reiterated and applied some key principles in the law of passing…
A decision of the German Federal Patent Court dated 13 September 2021 (Case 26 W (pat) 20/20) shows the sometimes thin line between likelihood of confusion and exploitation of the reputation…
2021 has yet again been a busy year for the General Court when it comes to decisions dealing with EU trademarks. It would also have been busy for the Court of Justice; however, alas, also in 2021 the…
The Board provided no support for the notion that a registrant has priority as to a specific service it was second to offer just because it was first to offer a different service that is a species of…
We surely cannot.
With Messi (see cases C-449/18P and C-474/18P MESSI) and Miley Cyrus (case T‑368/20 MILEY CYRUS), we learnt that reputation or renown of (personal) names is a factor which should…
The Board was found to have applied the wrong standard for the second time in adjudicating the same claim.
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board applied the wrong standard in determining that an…
As you may recall from our post on the 'Sony Vita' invalidation case, where a trade mark is registered for a product but only used for something viewed by consumers as a different product, the trade…
