Can Dinosaurs be monopolized as a trademark? The Commercial Court of Barcelona (Judgment No. 123/2019 of April 3, 2019) has held that the representation of a dinosaur on a cookie cannot be monopolized by a company and should remain in the public domain. The famous cookies company GALLETAS ARTIACH S.A.U. (“ARTIACH”) sued LA FLOR BURGALESA…
Kroma Makeup EU, LLC, a trademark licensee, lacked standing to assert trademark infringement claims against the Kardashian sisters and a U.S. beauty product seller, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Following a suit filed by the owner of the KROMA mark against the Kardashians and a beauty product manufacturer for infringement, Kroma…
On 26 September 2018, Division II of the Federal Court of Appeals of the City of Buenos Aires issued a decision in “Re adidas AG v. Juan Carlos Chillemi SRL seeking discontinuance of use and damages” (File No. 5423/2010) confirming the decision of the trial court. adidas owns trademark registrations for the “three-stripes” design in…
The EUTMR No. 2015/2424, as well as the Directive No. 2015/2436, have introduced various changes to EU and national trademark laws but both failed to provide transitory rules determining what is the applicable law for trademarks registered before the entry into force of the new law. In case C-21/18, Textilis Ltd and Ozgur Keskin v…
The question of how far descriptive or non-distinctive trademarks which somehow managed to be registered may be enforced is of particular relevance in jurisdictions like Germany which acknowledge their incontestability ten years after registration. The more recent approach of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was that it accepted likelihood of confusion also in a…
With the original Brexit date now having passed (29 March 2019), it is worth reflecting on where we now find ourselves, as brand owners/IP professionals with interests in the UK and EU. The EU has granted the UK a ‘flextension’ to the Article 50 period until 31 October 2019, with the option to leave sooner…
On 20th March 2019, the US Patent and Trademark Office had to decide about the conflict between the trademarks of Nike and Cheryl Bauman-Buffone. Cheryl Bauman-Buffone sought registration of her mark “JUST SAY IT” for books and downloadable e-books, both in “in the field of promoting healthy lifestyles encompassing physical, social, emotional and spiritual aspects…
A seller of parody tote bags that prevailed on trademark infringement, dilution, and copyright infringement claims brought by Louis Vuitton was not entitled to recover attorney fees. Case date: 15 March 2019 Case number: No. 18-293-cv. Court: United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP…
It was a long and cold winter in most of Canada – more so than usual and during that time, the Canadian IP community kept busy shoveling snow and preparing for the many amendments to Canada’s Trademarks Act, finally confirmed to be in force on June 17, 2019 (the “coming into force” or CIF date)….
In the US to indicate two things which are truly… incomparable, one says “oranges and apples”. In continental EU, we say “apples and pears”. This case deals indeed with apples and pears. On 31 January 2019, the General Court of the European Union had to decide about the similarity between an apple and a pear…
