To ensure you don’t miss out on interesting IP law developments reported on our other IP blogs, we will, on a regular basis, provide you with an overview of the top 3 most-read posts from each of our IP law blogs. Here are the top posts from last month. Top 3 Kluwer Trademark Blog posts…
In a recent decision, the Portuguese Court of Intellectual Property confirmed a surprising interpretation of the exception for the revocation of a trademark on grounds of non-use – namely proper reasons for non-use. The Industrial Property Office had rejected a revocation request against the protection in the Portuguese territory of an international trademark assuming that…
The Austrian Supreme Court (short “the Court”) denied a motion for a preliminary injunction (short “PI”) against the use of the mark “Duff (BEER)” based on the Claimant’s EUTM “Duff”, since the EUTM could be declared invalid on the basis of Defendant’s earlier German trademark rights (decision of 27.01.2016, 4 Ob 183/15p – DUFF Beer)….
Due to the variety of economic agents operating on the Portuguese market, some judicial disputes frequently arise regarding the registration rights derived from trademarks and trade names legally constituted. When these situations occur there is a collision of registration rights. The Lisbon Court of Appeal has recently dealt with one case in which the holder…
Slovak domain name registry administering .sk top level domain names SK-NIC published new Registration Rules and Dispute Resolution Rules effective as of 9 January 2017. The Registration Rules newly allow to hold a .sk domain name to any individual or legal entity having an address of service in any EU, EEA or EFTA Member State….
In BMW v Technosport ([2016] EWHC 797 (IPEC)), BMW have had a largely successful outcome in this case before the UK Intellectual Property Enterprise Court over the use of a number of their trade marks by an unauthorised repairer. The case follows BMW AG v Deenik (C-63/97) the leading CJEU case on the key issue…
Without proof that Hoop Culture would be irreparably injured in the absence of its requested preliminary injunction enjoining clothing retailer Gap from infringing Hoop Culture’s “EAT…SLEEP…BALL.®” trademark, Hoop Culture was not entitled to its requested relief, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta has decided (Hoop Culture, Inc. v. Gap Inc., April 28, 2016, per…
Prevailing defendants in a trademark dispute over the mark MEMORY LANE were not entitled to an award of attorney fees incurred in their successful defense, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco has held. A district court properly concluded that the case was not “exceptional” for purposes of the Lanham Act’s fee-shifting provision (Memory…
The relevance of the graphic element in the comparison of figurative signs and the application of the “principle of continuity of registration”. In two different decisions, rendered within a fortnight of each other, the Spanish Supreme Court decided to accept the registration of the trademark “La Española” plus graphics but deny the registration of the…
Judgment of the Supreme Court (First Chamber) no. 107/206 of 1 March 2016 The Spanish Supreme Court (SC) in a judgment of 1 March 2016, dismissed the cassation appeal filed by the “Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne” (joint trade association for Champagne) in respect of registration of the Spanish trademark “Champím” and use of…
