Christmas is upon us! We have no idea where 2016 has gone, but to distract you from the turkey eating season the Kluwer Trademark team thought you could do with a Christmas quiz. Some of it requires knowledge, but not all so don’t worry! And you will be relieved to hear that there is no…
A recent judgment by the Beijing IP Court has thwarted Apple’s attempts to obtain trademark protection for the standby screen of the iWatch! Apple may appeal this judgment. On 13 November 2014 Apple had applied to file the sign depicted in Figure 1 as a trademark in China in classes 9, 10, 14, and 38….
Known to many, there is a recent judgment of the CJEU confirming that, if likelihood of confusion exists in only part of the EU, the EUTM is not infringed in the other part – which must be exempted from an injunction. Less known to most, there is a pending reference to the Court of…
On November 15, 2016, the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (“PRV”) rejected an application for trademark protection of the a figurative mark consisting of a hand giving the middle finger on the ground that it was contrary to accepted principles of morality in accordance to Chapter 2, Article 7 of the Swedish Trademark Act. The…
In a recent decision, the Federal Administrative Court reminded everybody that under Article 5(2)(a) Madrid Protocol, any refusal of protection of an international mark may only be based on the reasons that have been notified to International Bureau (WIPO) within the one year period from the date on which the notification of the extension has…
An injunction preventing China-based Sun Earth Solar Power Co. and its U.S. affiliate NBSolar, Inc. (collectively, “SESP”) from using the trademark “Sun-Earth,” while permitting SESP to state within the United States the fact of their affiliation with the Sun-Earth name and mark that they used outside of the United States, and to allow SESP to…
The UK High Court (‘HC’) decision in Victoria Plum Ltd v Victorian Plumbing Ltd & Ors [2016] EWHC 2911 concerns the use of AdWords by co-existing competitors bidding on each others’ names. Of particular interest are the issues raised by the parties’ co-existence and involves an unsuccessful defence of “honest concurrent use” (a defence not provided…
In mid-November, the Russian Intellectual Property Court published a noteworthy decision shedding light on an ambiguous pre-trial procedure in IP disputes. The procedure (effective since 1 June 2016) has raised numerous concerns over its adverse effect on IP enforcement. On November 18, 2016, the Russian IP Court reviewed the dispute between Daimler AG and TMR…
In a recent decision of the General Court of the European Union (General Court), the Italian fashion house Gucci (Guccio Gucci SpA) once again drew the shorter straw against permanent rival Guess (Guess? IP Holder LP). This judgment forms the most recent in a string of cases fought between the two companies throughout Europe,…
A recent case before the European Court of Justice has dealt with the interesting question of how Article 7(1)(e)(ii) of Regulation No 40/94 (now replaced by Regulation 207/2009), which provides that signs which consist exclusively of the shape of goods necessary to obtain a technical result shall not be registered, should be assessed. Thereby, German…
