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…
Brand
Brand Value
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property Law
IP Rights
Likelihood of confusion
Product Piracy
Trademark Law
Trademarks
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…
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…
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…
Decisions
Design Law
ECJ - European Court of Justice
EUIPO
European Union Trademark
Likelihood of confusion
Three-dimensional trademarks
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…
In its decision of 10 January 2019, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) Board of Appeal found that there was a likelihood of confusion between the applied EU trademark (EUTM) “OTTOSUN” and the…
On 26 June 2018, the General Court (GC) upheld the decision of the Board of Appeal (BoA) and confirmed that the word and device trademark “France.com” cannot be registered in the EU due to a likelihood of…
On 20 June 2018, the General Court of the European Union (GC) ruled that the distinctiveness of the trade mark ‚POLO’ by Ralph Lauren’s eponymous fashion brand is indeed so famous that it requires broader legal…
Community Trademark
European General Court
German Trademarks
Likelihood of confusion
OHIM
Trademark Law
Trademarks
On 20 February 2018, the General Court of the European Union (GC) upheld the previous decision of Board of Apeal of EUIPO (BoA) when it found the trademark “BEPOST” and the trademarks “POST” and “ePOST” to be…
The color red means energy, strength, power and passion. Shoe-wise, for most women it means one thing: Louboutins. However, the road was not easy for the French designer. In-and-out of courts for years now, the…
An Italian decision from March 2016 clarified the scope of protection for shape marks when it comes to jewelry, where a minor design change makes all the difference. The judge confirmed that even the smaller…
Given the notoriety of McDonald´s and their products, it is hard to imagine anyone would challenge their entitlement to the “Mac” and “Mc” prefixes. However, it was only recently that the European General Court…
Decisions
Intellectual Property
Likelihood of confusion
The Court of Justice of the European Union
Trademarks
The two Merck pharmaceutical magnates have shared one name for decades. However, their coexistence has become anything but peaceful, with mutual lawsuits filed all over Europe, and not without good reason. The…
The recent case the General Court of the European Union (the EGC) had to resolve was a great example of the correlation of conceptual similarity and public confusion. What conceptual similarity entails and how…
After the European General Court’s (EGC) ruling on September 2015, the battle of the reptiles continues in front of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). As Lacoste protects their famous crocodile…