The scope of protection conferred upon trade mark owners can often prove to be a controversial subject, particularly where the trade mark applied for has a decorative look and feel to it. Despite…
The Schogetten chocolate cases from Germany and Hungary are an example of how differently courts in the member states can still interpret what is essentially the same trademark.
This blog deals with…
The Alicante Appellate Court has confirmed that the use of lists comparing fragrances to well-known perfume brands is illegal.
Comparison lists compare smell-alike perfumes with the respective high-…
The maker of Gibson-brand guitars could not go forward with claims that media conglomerate Viacom International secondarily infringed trademarks related to Gibson’s “Flying V” design by selling a…
The Portuguese market has been recently overrun by new brands and stores of “low-cost” perfumes. Their business relies on the idea of selling low-cost versions of the original perfumes, identified…
CJEU 16 July 2015, C-681/13, Diageo Brands/Simiramida available here
Law can be strange and European law even stranger. The CJEU decision in this case reads as another fantasy novel where European…
On 18 February 2016, the General Court issued its decision in the HARRY’S BAR case (T-711/13 and T-716-13), where, adopting a rather broad brush approach, it held that food and beverage products were…
The Austrian Supreme Court (short “the Court”) recently ruled that a provider of maintenance and repair services for cars of all brands (short “garage”), including Mazda cars, where that service…
In December 2015 the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court granted a preliminary injunction against citations and the use of metatags in a remarkable case between Karnov (Thomson Publishing) and…
OHIM recently published procedural rules surrounding the important issue of the scope of CTM specifications of goods and services. These follow on from the new provisions of Article 28 EUTMR and…
