Picture this: on a sunny morning, you peek into your mailbox (the real one, not your emails) and find a pretty envelope. As you reach for it with childish excitement, you ask yourself who had the lovely idea to…

New Name, Legal CheckRebranding and Trademark Law – What You Need to Know When Changing Your Brand NameRebranding can be an exciting yet risky move for any business. Whether you are modernizing your image, merging…

SUMMER – FESTIVAL TIME – BUILDING TRADEMARK VALUEWell over two months late for World IP Day, but still keen to talk about IP and music.Per chance, I recently listened to an OMR podcast with Holger Hübner, one of…

Have you ever posted a video of yourself performing a little dance on TikTok? Or uploaded photos of your latest vacation on a sun-bathed island on Instagram? There is a good chance that you did, since more than 5…

IP Right Holders do betterFindings of the “Intellectual Property Rights and Firm Performance in the European Union” firm-level analysis report by the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) and the EPO…

COMING UP ON 1 MAY 2025: AMENDMENTS TO EU DESIGN LAWWe recently held a webinar on the upcoming amendments to EU design law. To learn more about the new amendments, listen to our webinar recording which will be…

Few are those nowadays who have not heard of the wonders of machine learning technologies. Names such as “ChatGPT”, “DeepSeek” or “Midjourney” have become known to virtually everybody and, for many, are now part…

Virtual Goods in Focus – EU General Court’s First Ruling The General Court (GC) has issued its first-ever ruling on the distinctiveness of a trademark applied to virtual goods. The decision T11163/23 dated 11…

Christmas is only a few weeks away! Now is the time for including gifts for your loved ones to your shopping lists. But as you browse through busy stores or infinite lists of products online looking for bargains,…

Upon examining trademark applications, national trademark offices in the EU may refuse to register a sign that is contrary to “public policy” or “accepted principles of morality”. This somewhat lesser-known…

The Olympic Games 2024 are underway! However, although the merriment surrounding the event invites to light-heartedness, one should be careful not to be carried away when it comes to the use of the so-called…

[[{"type":"media","fid":"5457","view_mode":"default","instance_fields":"override","attributes":{"style":"height: 306px; width:…

The EU set its priorities for the next four years of combating severe and organized crime in May 2021. Within the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (“EMPACT”), a…

The significance of comprehending the scope of protection given to marks with a reputation in EU law was brought up again in a recent case. The trademark at issue in this case is unquestionably one of the most…

Following a request for a preliminary ruling by the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on January 30, 2020 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on when unregistered designs of individual parts enter into…

Subject matter and background of the actionIn its decision of 29 June 2022, the European General Court (EGC) upholds the contested decision of the Board of Appeal of EUIPO dated 6 April  2021. According to the…

The question, whether two stripes on the side of a shoe have a distinctive character or can lead to the invalidity of a trademark was subjected in the case of 4 May 2022. But how did the European General Court…

Every year on the 26 April, we celebrate the World Intellectual Property Day to draw attention to the important role of intellectual property rights (IP). This year, the official theme is “IP and Youth: Innovating…

The "déjà vu" feeling - nullity of an EU design (lamp)In a recent case, the European General Court (EGC) had to deal with the invalidity of a lamp design and to assess whether it had individual character. It was…

The oldest perfume manufacturer in the world and its battle for a statutory trademark protection Source: GPTO website – picture of the company sign of  Johann Maria Farina from 1868  „Johann Maria Farina gegenüber…