The Alicante Court of Appeal has concluded that the use of comparison lists in the marketing of smell-alike perfumes constitutes an unlawful form of comparative advertising, even when it is the consumers themselves that are making use of these lists at a sales website. This latest case ruled on new forms of using comparison lists…
That is the question that was recently answered by the Board of Appeal of the Dutch Advertising Code Authority. The TM symbol stands for “trademark” and is traditionally used for unregistered trademarks in various jurisdictions such as the US. Conversely, the ® symbol is used to indicate a trademark has been registered. However, in the…
On 18 July 2017, the General Court held that the two designs shown here produced the same overall impression (case T-57/16; not yet available in English). The EUIPO – both first and second instance – had held otherwise. The Cancellation Division described the designs as superimposed C’s (Chanel’s logo) and 3’s (the design under attack),…
The Federal Administrative Court partially overturned a decision of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) refusing protection for Apple’s word mark “iMessage” for telecommunication services in class 38. The Administrative Court agreed with the IPO that “iMessage” lacked original distinctiveness for messaging services, because such services were closely linked to the internet,…
This blog will explore potential disadvantages of failing to utilise the registered community design (hereafter RCD) in a Danish context with a particular emphasis on cheap imitations of luxury consumer goods. The point of reference will be a November 2016 case from the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court (the “Court”) concerning rubber boots made…
With perhaps more of a gentle fizz than a bang, the Brexit negotiations finally got underway towards the end of last month. One might be forgiven for having missed this development, given the backdrop of a tragic fire in London and anger directed at the governmental response. Indeed, the outward glare held by many Britons…
On June 14, 2017, the Commission opened investigations against Nike, Universal Studios and Sanrio (“Hello Kitty”) for their distribution and licensing practices. The Commission suspects that the companies are containing online and cross-border sales by their dealers and licensees and thereby violate EU Competition law. These are probably the most prominent investigations into the distribution…
In Copenhagen around one third of the workforce bike to work. That amounts to more than one million kilometers being pedaled every day. Next to the Dutch the Danes are the population in Europe that bike the most. For this reason it is only natural that conflicts should arise in Denmark between owners of trademarks…
The U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City has affirmed a district court’s decision that Macy’s Merchandising Group’s MAISON JULES line of women’s clothing—a private brand sold almost exclusively in Macy’s stores—did not infringe the trademark JOULES, owned by clothing retailer Joules Limited. Consumer confusion between the parties’ marks was not likely. Although the…
The Cologne Higher Regional Court was asked to decide on an alleged infringement of German unfair competition law by the look of a trade dress of tea drinks bottles. In summary, the court rejected the claim since the bottles of the parties showed different product and manufacturer names (judgment of 28 April 2017, Case 6…
