Bundesgerichtshof annuls decisions against 3D glucose tablets marks
On the 18th of october the Bundesgerichtshof annulled two Bundespatentgericht rulings on the eligibility for trademark protection. The Bundespatentgericht decided on the 27th of december 2016 that a three dimensional shape of a tablet with rounded corners was not eligible for protection as a trademark, because the...
moreBundesgerichtshof annuls decisions against 3D chocolate marks
Marques: "In yesterday's decision, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) annulled two rulings of the German Federal Patent Court (BPatG) that held both three-dimensional signs depicted below not to be eligible for protection as trade marks. […
moreUse of figurative element of a composite mark is "genuine use" if distinctive character is not affected
Trade Mark Law - Judgments CIPA v Registrar (IPPT20120619) and Praktiker Bau v Deutsche Patent und Markenamt (...
moreAppeal against international word mark “CHEMPIOIL” dismissed
Trade Mark Law - A distinction should be made between the assessment of the conceptual differences between signs at issue and the overall assessment of their similarities, which form two distinct stages in the analysis of the overall likelihood...
moreOpinion AG CJEU: Online recording service where the provider receives and records the signal breaches InfoSoc Directive
Copyright - Case C-265/16: VCAST v RTI. Opinion AG Szpunar. Opinion about whether...
moreCourt of Justice EU about Private International Law issues regarding accused design infringers in different memberstates
Private International Law - Design Law - The Community design court can, in cases where the jurisdiction towards one defendant is based on Article 82(1) Community Designs Regulation (CDR) and...
moreCourt of Justice EU on the essential funtion of an EU collective mark
Trade Mark Law - Essential function of an EU collective mark: distinguishing the goods or services of the members of the association which is the proprietor of the trademark from those of other undertakings, and not to distinguish those goods according tot heir...
moreRanee van der Straaten: The risks of personal branding
World Trademark Review, August/September 2017, issue 68, p. 93-95, Ranee van der Straaten (Banning):“This article first appeared in World Trademark Review issue 68, published by Globe Business Media Group – IP Division. To view the issue in full,...
moreRanee van der Straaten: Smell-alikes: Lessons from Chanel and Coty's smell-alike victory
World Trademark Review, December 2016/January 2017, issue 64, p. 22-23, Ranee van der Straaten (Banning):“This article first appeared in World Trademark Review issue 64, published by Globe Business Media Group – IP Division. To view the issue in full...
more15% discount on tickets for the IP World Summit for users of IP-PorTal
IP-PorTal is a media partner of the IP World Summit 2017 which will take place in Amsterdam from 25 - 27 September. The Summit is a “one-stop shop for IP leaders offering a mix of thought provoking and practical sessions now covering a range of approaches to IP protection and monetisation...
moreRequest for a preliminary ruling concerning the display of press products by commercial search engines
Copyright - Case C-299/17, VG Media. Request for a preliminary ruling. Landgericht Berlin - Germany. Applicant (VG Media) is a company which exercises the rights of §87f of the German Copyright Law of holders of related rights in digital publishing against users. On...
moreRequest for a preliminary ruling concerning the issuing conditions of supplementary protection certificates
Patent Law - Case C-443/17 Abraxis Bioscience. Request for a preliminary ruling. High Court of Justice UK.Applicant (Abraxis Bioscience) has filed an application for a supplementary protection certificate (SPC) with the Intellectual Property Office of the United...
moreRequest for a preliminary ruling concerning the disclosure of medicinal product characteristics by the Medicines Evaluation Board of the Netherlands
Patent Law - Case C-423/17 Warner-Lambert Company. Request for a preliminary ruling. Court of Appeal The Hague. Request for a preliminary ruling: 1. Must Article 11 of Directive 2001/83 or any other provision of Union law be interpreted...
moreRequest for a preliminary ruling concerning the availability of radio- and television programmes online
Copyright - Case C-298/17 France Télévisions. Request for a preliminary ruling. Conseil d'État (Frankrijk). The applicant asks the referring court for the annulment of a decision of 27/05/2015 by the FRA Broadcasting...
moreGoogle trademark questioned before Supreme Court
Ars Technica: "Is the term "google" too generic and therefore unworthy of its trademark protection? That's the question before the US Supreme Court. Words like teleprompter, thermos, hoover, aspirin, and videotape were once trademarked. They lost the status after their names became too generic and fell...
moreNintendo accused of patent infringement Switch-controllers
Engadget: "The Nintendo Switch certainly isn't the first gaming tablet, but is it directly riffing on others' ideas? Gamevice thinks so. The accessory maker is suing Nintendo for allegedly violating a patent for concepts used in the Wikipad, its gaming-oriented Android slate, as well as its namesake add-on...
moreDisney to start own streaming service and end Netflix deal
The Verge: "Disney will end its distribution deal with Netflix and launch its own streaming service, the company announced today. It intends to launch the service in 2019. Netflix won’t lose its Disney movies right away. Disney says it plans to cut Netflix off starting with the studio’s 2019 films, and...
moreGerman Federal Patent Court declares the three-dimensional sign of Capri-Sun invalid
(Courtesy of Ranee van der Straaten, BANNING and Monique Hennekens) Trade mark law - Judgement of the German Federal Patent Court (Bundespatentgericht) of 28 June 2017 in the case...
moreCourt of Justice confirms the judgement of the General Court with regard to the likelihood of confusion 'X' and 'XKING' for tyres
Trade Mark Law - The view of the General Court regarding the distinctiveness of an earlier mark is based on an error in law: it is clear from the brochures provided by Michelin that the stylised letter ‘x’ is used, in isolation or in combination with other...
moreApple ordered to pay $506 million for patent infringement iPhone processors
Reuters: “A U.S. judge on Monday ordered Apple Inc to pay $506 million for infringing on a patent owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's patent licensing arm, more than doubling the damages initially imposed on Apple by a jury. […]
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