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…

If you are the owner of a registered patent, trademark or design (IP rights), you have surely received communication in the past that looked like it was an invoice coming from an official source, that mentioned…

Genuine Use of a Trademark – Always relevant, always worth a ReminderIn our series of blog articles, genuine use of a trademark has already been an issue. But since the topic is very important and can even lead to…

All these small Gimmicks – Trademark Infringement?Vacation time. Travelling time. Hamburg. Miniatur Wunderland - the world´s largest model railway. An amazing place to spend a whole day, discovering all the small…

Rims and wheels have been under discussion regarding design protection for many years.…

What a ride and wake-up call for McDonald’s. [[{"type":"media","fid":"5450","view_mode":"default","instance_fields":"override","attributes":{"style":"width: 300px; height:…

YUMMY OR DANGEROUS? PEANUT EXTASY Peanuts… Yummy! But what if the product designation does not just say „PEANUTS“, but „PEANUT EXTASY“? My first thought as a consumer would still be „Yummy“ expecting that the…

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 "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 European General Court (EGC) ruled for the first time on 7 July 2021 on the registration of a sound mark represented in an audio format and its requirements. The case concerned the question of whether the…

When hearing about the „BavariaWeed“ decision of the European General Court (Decision of 12 May 2021, T-178/20 – currently only available in German and French) for the first time, one‘s initial reaction might be…

October 2020 is almost over and everything is different this year. Here in Munich, we have not been able to celebrate the WIESN as the “original” OKTOBERFEST is often called. It was cancelled due to the pandemic.…

When was the last time that you bought something not just off the shelf, but with giving it a little more thought before buying? Did you look for test results for the product category that you were interested in…

H’ugo’s – a famous Munich local Pizza Bar Lounge wins trademark case at the European Union General CourtWith its decision dated 9 July 2019, the European General Court (T-397/18) confirmed the finding of the…

With its decision dated 19 June 2019, the European General Court (T-307/17) confirms invalidity of one of adidas’ three-stripe-marks, namely European Union Trademark Registration No. 12442166.I. Background of the…

When a striker acts as a defender: EU General Court’s decision “NEYMAR” (T-795/17)With its decision dated 14 May 2019, the European General Court confirms a decision of the European Union Intellectual Property…

The German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) recently rendered a decision on trademark use in the field of textiles that is worth reading.  In general, use as a trademark requires that a significant part of the…

On 14 February 2019, the Higher Regional Court Frankfurt a.M. ruled that German courts have an international competence for adverts on the Internet in particular, if those adverts are provided on a…

ECJ landmark case: Successful invalidity proceedings against an EU design based on an earlier trademarkWith its decision dated 6 March 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed a decision of the European…