Trade mark law. No interruption of the period of limitation or stop acquiescence by an act, such as a warning letter, by which the proprietor of an earlier mark or other earlier right opposes the use of a later mark without taking the necessary steps to obtain a legally binding solution. No interruption of the period...

Trade mark proprietor as producer liable for brand products pursuant to the Product Liability Directive. That Article 3(1) of Directive 85/374 must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘producer’, referred to in that provision, does not require that the person who has put his name, trade mark or other...

Trademark law - Case T-316/21 Worldwide Machinery v EUIPO. In May 2013, the following figurative mark of Scaip Srl was registered.

Community court of Member State where (threatened) infringement takes place by offering for sale and delivery in advertising (not cross-border) competent (Article 82(5) CD-Regulation): such acts may be the subject of an action for infringement which targets, in accordance with Article 82(5) of Regulation No 6/2002, a...

Earlier right applying in a particular locality vs later trade mark. In order to be enforceable against the proprietor of a subsequent trade mark, it is sufficient, in principle, that the earlier right which only applies in a particular locality, such as a trade name, is recognised by the laws of the Member State in...

By its action, Poland, asks to annul the obligations imposed on online content-sharing service providers. The prior automatic review (filtering) of content uploaded by users) has been accompanied by appropriate safeguards by the EU legislature.

IP Rights in Rem - Property Law The concept of 'sales of goods' referred to in Article 1(2) of Council Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents must be interpreted as meaning that it may refer to the electronic delivery of...

Copyright - The lawful purchaser is entitled to decompile all or part of the computer program to correct errors in accordance with article 5 section 1 directive 91/250 (Software Directive), including when the correction consists in disabling a function that is affecting the proper operation of the application of which...

Genuine use. Breadth of categories of goods or services for which the earlier mark was registered is a key element of the balance between, on the one hand, the maintenance and preservation of the exclusive rights conferred on the proprietor of the earlier mark and, on the other hand, the limitation of those rights in...

The three-year period of prescription in respect of claims of a holder of a plant variety right starts to run from the date on which, first, the plant variety right was granted and, second, the holder had knowledge of the act and of the identity of the party liable, irrespective of the ongoing nature of an act of...

Patent Law - Article 3(d) of Regulation No 469/2009 must be interpreted as meaning that an MA cannot be considered to be the first MA, for the purpose of that provision, where it covers a new therapeutic application of an active ingredient, or of a combination of active ingredients, and that active ingredient or...

Case C‑401/19. Republic of Poland v European Parliament, Council of the European Union. Opinion of A-G Saugmandsgaard Øe.

The Republic of Poland asks the Court, principally, to annul Article 17(4)(b) and (c) of the DSM Directive and, in the alternative, to annul Article 17 in its entirety. To this end, the Republic...

Copyright - At the current state of EU law the operator of a video-sharing platform or a file-hosting and ‑sharing platform, on which users can illegally make protected content available to the public, does not make a ‘communication to the public’ of that content: users perform ‘act of communication’ now that they act...

Trade Mark Law - From the press release: "The General Court annuls the decision of EUIPO which dismissed Guerlain’s initial application. [...]

First, the General Court recalls that the assessment of whether it has distinctive character is not based on the originality or the lack of use of the mark applied for in...

Reuters: "France's antitrust watchdog slapped a 500 million euro ($593 million) fine on Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) on Tuesday for failing to comply with the regulator's orders on how to conduct talks with the country's news publishers in a row over copyright.

[...]

The case itself focused on whether Google breached...

Trade Mark Law - From the press release: "Ardagh Metal Beverage Holdings GmbH & Co. KG filed an application for registration of a sound sign as an EU trade mark with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). That sign, submitted as an audio file, recalls the sound made by a drinks can being opened...

Copyright -  Uploading previously downloaded media file containing a protected work by a user to the terminal equipment of another user constitutes making available to the public: users peer-to-peer network have knowledge of granting access to protected works to an indeterminate number of potential recipients. Holders...

Database Rights - Indexing and copying to your own server of substantial content of a database which is freely accessible on the internet is extraction and re-utilisation within the meaning of Article 7 Database Directive, which may be prohibited provided that they have the effect of depriving that person of income...

Related Rights - The concept of 'relevant performers' in Article 8(2) of Directive 2006/115 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property is to be interpreted in a uniform manner throughout the Union and precludes a Member State from excluding artists...

This consultation aims at gathering stakeholder evidence and views to support the review of the Community Design Regulation and the Design Directive. The review follows from an exhaustive evaluation of the EU legislation on design protection, which was supported by a comprehensive public consultation and two major...