2005
Print this pageIEPT20051216, EBA-EPO, Diagnostic methods
[G 0001/04] Diagnostic method practised o the human or animal body: diagnosis for curative purposes stricto sensu representing the deductive medical or veterinary decision phase as a purely intellectual exercise, including preceding steps and specific interactions with body. Not dependent upon participation by medical or veterinary practitioner or medical or technical support staff. Preceding steps must be practiced on the human or animal body. No specific type and intensity of interaction with the human or animal body required
The national legislation and various factors relating to the consumption of feta in the Member States tend to indicate that the name ‘feta’ is not generic in nature
IPPT20051018, ECJ, Class International
A trade mark proprietor cannot oppose the mere entry into the Community, under the external transit procedure or the customs warehousing proce-dure, of original goods bearing that mark which had not already been put on the market in the Commu-nity previously by that proprietor or with his consent
IPPT20051006, ECJ, Medion v Thomson
Where the goods or services are identical there may be a likelihood of confusion where the contested sign is composed by juxtaposing the company name of another party and a registered mark which has normal distinctiveness and which, without alone determining the overall impression conveyed by the composite sign, still has an independent distinctive role therein
The notion of general interest underlying Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation No 40/94 is indissociable from the essential function of a trade mark, which is to guarantee the identity of the origin of the marked product or service
IPPT20050714, ECJ, Europe 1 v SPRE and GVL
Directive 93/83 does not preclude the fee for phonogram use being governed not only by the law of the Member State in whose territory the broadcasting company is established but also by the legislation of the Member State in which, for technical reasons, the terrestrial transmitter broadcasting to the first State is located.
IPPT20050707, ECJ, Nestle v Mars
The distinctive character of a mark referred to in Article 3(3) of the directive may be acquired in consequence of the use of that mark as part of or in conjunction with a registered trade mark.
IPPT20050707, ECJ, Praktiker v Deutsche Patent und Markenamt
The concept of ‘services’ referred to by the directive covers services provided in connection with retail trade in goods. For the purposes of registration of a trade mark for such services, it is not necessary to specify the actual service(s) in question. However, details must be provided with regard to the goods or types of goods to which those services relate.
IPPT20050630, ECJ, Tod's v Heyraud
Article 12 EC, which lays down the general principle of non-discrimination on grounds of nationality, must be interpreted as meaning that the right of an author to claim in a Member State the copyright protection afforded by the law of that State may not be subject to a distinguishing criterion based on the country of origin of the work.
No distinctive character based on the overall impression which is conveyed by the shape and the arrangement of the colours of the mark applied for.
IPPT20050616, ECJ, Commission v Italy
Violation of Article 5(2) Bio-technology Directive: Italian patent law does not allow to patent elements of the human body that have been isolated. Violation of Article 6(2) Bio-technology Directive: Member States have no discretion with regard to the unpatentability of the processes and uses which it sets out. Violation of Article 8-11 Bio-technology Directive: protection for biological material directly obtained through patented process and any material derive through propagation or multiplication. Article 12 Breach Biotechnology Directive: compulsory license in case of interdependence between pa-tent on biological material invention and plant variety right
IPPT20050609, ECJ, HLH Warenvertriebs Orthica v Deutschland
The classification of a product as a medicinal product or as a foodstuff must take account of all the characteristics of the product, established both in the initial stage of the product and where it is mixed, in accordance with the method by which it is used, with water or with yoghurt.
A service comes within the concept of ‘television broadcasting’ if it consists of the initial transmission of television programmes intended for reception by an indeterminate number of potential television viewers, to whom the same images are transmitted simultaneously.
IPPT20050525, EBA-EPO, Hoffmann-La Roche
Transfer of opposition: The status as an opponent cannot be freely transferred.A legal person who was a subsidiary of the opponent when the opposition was filed and who carries on the business to which the opposed patent relates cannot acquire the status as opponent if all its shares are assigned to another company.
IPPT20050511, TBA-EPO, Max Planck
[T 870/04] Susceptible of industrial application: Some profitable use required. Practical application geared to financial gain. Speculative indication of possible objectives not sufficient. Scientific achievement without practical use is not susceptible of industrial application.
IPPT20050420, CFI, Atomic Austria v BHIM – Atomic Blitz
Opponent free to choose evidence. OHIM may not assume essential facts relating to the protection of earlier marks
IPPT20050317, ECJ, Gillette v LA Laboratories
Use of the trade is necessary in order to indicate the intended purpose of a product where such use in practice constitutes the only means of providing the public with comprehensible and complete information. Use does not necessarily mean that it is presenting it as being of the same quality as, or having equivalent properties to, those of the product bearing the trade mark.
IPPT20050215, ECHR, Steel and Morris v UK
Denial of legal aid: inequality of arms. Large multinational and defamation: It is true that large public companies inevitably and knowingly lay themselves open to close scrutiny of their acts and, as in the case of the businessmen and women who manage them, the limits of acceptable criticism are wider in the case of such companies. Breach of article 10 – lack of procedural fairness and equality:
IPPT20050128, EBA-EPO, Highland Industries
[G 0003/03] Reimbursement appeal fee: Board of Appeal instead of department of first instance competent to decide on reimbursement of appeal fee
