Parties and Mark The defendant is an Amazon entity. It is responsible for Amazon’s keyword advertising on Google Ads (formerly Adwords). The plaintiff is the exclusive licensee of the trademark BOSS in the perfume and cosmetics segment. One of the perfumes marketed by the plaintiff is “BOSS The Scent”. It ranks among the most successful…
Should a registered EU trademark which consists of a descriptive term (in one of the EU languages) be capable to prevent registration of a later EUTM which is fanciful but happens to contain the same letter string, solely because in some EU countries knowledge of that language cannot be adequately proven? What if that language…
The preliminary injunction was vacated, however, with respect to products the licensee held in inventory and that the mark owner did not seek to repurchase under the parties’ license agreement. A former licensee’s continued use of various marks for science toys after the license expired was likely to cause consumer confusion, the U.S. Court of…
On 20 May 2020, we received another decision in the long-running dispute between Merck KGgA (“Merck Global”) and their former US subsidiary (“Merck US”). This case dealt with the following five issues remitted by the Court of Appeal: Further consideration of partial revocation of Merck Global’s registered marks; Whether the activities of Merck US constitute…
On 28 May 2020 the General Court rendered its most recent ruling regarding enhanced protection of trade marks with a reputation (T-677/18; available in French and Spanish). Two issues are of particular interest in this judgment. First, how to prove reputation, as well as distinctiveness, of a mark consisting of the shape of the product…
The business owner’s purported plans to expand to the United States market were vague and conclusory, and his filing of a U.S. trademark application had little bearing on his ability to expand his business to the United States. A Manhattan federal district court did not err in dismissing a Thai resident’s declaratory judgment action seeking…
On 30 April 2020 (C-772/18), the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) addressed a contentious issue in trademark enforcement. It discussed the definition of “use in the course of trade”, especially as opposed to storing or importing in counterfeit trade. The CJEU examined Article 5(1) and (3)(b), (c) of Directive 2008/95 at the…
”Few ideas and confused”. This was a frequent comment from high school professors reviewing our test results which seems strangely apt to describe this latest attempt by the Italian Government to protect Italian companies and the so called “made in Italy”, using trade mark rights. The Ministerial Decree of 10 January 2020 set the final…
On 30 April 2020, Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella (AG) delivered his opinion in the matter C809/18 P related to the conditions for application of Article 8(3) of Regulation 2017/1001 which provides a specific ground for refusal allowing owners of, in practice foreign, marks to oppose filings for EU trade marks made by their agent or…
The Austrian courts recently had the opportunity to provide some clarifications as to when a geographical indication, which is not protected as such under EU legislation, may be registered as a trademark, relying on the principles established more than 20 years ago in the “Chiemsee” preliminary rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU…
