In February this year a dispute between the law firm FOCUS Advokater (“FOCUS Lawyers” in English) and the accounting firm Beierholm was decided by the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court (BS-40894/2019 SHR). The case concerned the use of the name BEIERHOLM FOKUS which FOCUS Advokater found to be an infringement of their trademark rights…
As has already been reported on this blog (see here), the Court of Justice has annulled the decision of the General Court saying that the refusal of EUTM application FACK JU GÖHTE for being (allegedly) contrary to accepted principles of morality was incorrect (judgment of 26 February 2020, C- 240/18P). This refusal raised a number…
On 25 February 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have officially withdrawn their trade mark applications for the words “SUSSEX ROYAL” and “SUSSEX ROYAL THE FOUNDATION OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF SUSSEX”. The couple further announced that they will stop using the brand from Spring 2020. The couple launched their brand last April…
“What the FACK just happened?!”, some thought, when the CJEU delivered its judgment on the registrability of the trademark FACK JU GÖHTE on 27 February 2020. In case you are unfamiliar with the case, FACK JU is a phonetic transcription in German of “fuck you” and GÖHTE alludes to the late German writer Goethe. Following…
In Shaggy’s 2000 hit, the main character is caught cheating on his girlfriend and defends himself by simply denying the facts and repeating the phrase: “It wasn’t me!”. Contract manufacturers caught infringing intellectual property rights do not generally deny having manufactured the given infringing goods. However, they often claim that they are not liable, since…
Last year we commented here on the Greek draft trade mark law aimed at implementing the Directive 2015/2436 (the Directive). This law was recently submitted and accepted by the Greek Parliament (the Law), almost one year after its public consultation, adding Greece to the EU countries that are now fully compliant with the Directive. Greece…
Interactive website’s option allowing customers to select Illinois as “ship-to” destination for defendant’s supplement products was among factors cited in reversal of district court’s dismissal of trademark infringement claims. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago has reversed the dismissal of Lanham Act and state law claims for lack of personal jurisdiction, finding that defendant…
Refusal of THE JOINT trademark application was affirmed on the grounds that the mark was merely descriptive of the applicant’s hospitality business services and acquired distinctiveness was not demonstrated. A hospitality services’ applications to register the mark “THE JOINT” for two different classes of services were properly refused because the mark was merely descriptive of…
Much has changed since the new Canadian Trademarks Act came into effect on June 17th 2019. Although practitioners were advised well in advance of the legislative and regulatory changes, there were many surprises, some unwelcome. Below are a few noteworthy changes that applicants should be well aware of before filing in Canada. New “Non-Distinctive” ground…
With decision C-783/18 P of 12 December 2019, the CJEU upheld the GC decision (Case T 313/17) that a three-dimensional trademark consisting of a shape of an amphora was distinctive enough to be granted registration. In our earlier comment (see here), we had voiced some doubts about the GC’s conclusion. Also in view of the…
