No risk of confusion between mark with four crossed lines and Asics figurative mark
Trade Mark Law - The action is dismissed. The Board of Appeal found correctly that there was no visual similarity between the marks, because the overall impression given by the marks at issue is so different that the consumer will not make a connection between the signs at issue solely on the basis that they are both …
moreRichard Prince blames his iPhone in copyright case
Page Six: "Controversial artist Richard Prince is back in court for an ongoing copyright case over two photographs used in his 2014 “New Portraits” series that were taken by artists Donald Graham and Eric McNatt. Prince — who took the images from Instagram and printed them largely unaltered with a comment he …
moreColin Kaepernick wants to trademark an image of his face and hair
CNBC International: " [...] Fans could be able to buy t-shirts, shampoo and even candles featuring a black and white image of the athlete and activist with a beard, mustache and afro hairstyle, which he has applied to trademark. Kaepernick's company, Inked Flash, has applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office …
moreWalmart files patent for carts that track your heart rate
Popular Mechanics: " [...] The grocery chain filed a patent in August for a shopping cart that monitors various biometric signals, like a customer's body temperature, heart rate and tightness of grip on the handle. According to the patent titled System And Method For Biometric Feedback Cart Handle, the data would be …
moreDraft Council Conclusions on the EU Customs Action Plan to Combat IPR Infringements for the Years 2018 to 2022.
Press Release: "The EU Customs Action Plan to combat IPR infringements for the years 2018-2022 is attached. A roadmap will be prepared by the Commission in co-operation with Member States experts to define the actions and tools to be deployed within an agreed timeframe, taking into account the financial and human …
moreAdvocate General: Distribution right in Copyright Directive includes t-shirts in storage away from store
Case C-572/17. Syed. Preliminary questions. Högsta domstolen (Sweden).
Preliminary questions in a procedure regarding the unauthorised sale of t-shirts with logo’s of rock bands and artists. The shirts were placed in the store itself as well as in a storage elsewhere. The Swedish Surpreme courts questions …
moreTorrent usage on the rise due to increase in exclusive content
Motherboard: “A new study shows that after years of declines, BitTorrent usage and piracy is on the rise again. The culprit: an increase in exclusivity deals that force subscribers to hunt and peck among a myriad of streaming services to actually find the content they’re looking for.
Sandvine’s new Global …
more"Image rights metadata in Google Images"
Google: "As part of a collaboration between Google, photo industry consortium CEPIC, and IPTC, the global technical standards body for the news media, you can now access rights-related image metadata in Google Images. [...] Starting today, we’ve added Creator and Credit metadata whenever present to images on …
moreEU trade mark “NEUSCHWANSTEIN” not descriptive and not registered in bad faith
Trade mark law - Designation ‘Neuschwanstein’ from EU word mark “NEUSCHWANSTEIN” not descriptive for quality or essential characteristic goods and services: ‘souvenir items’ not mentioned in Nice classification, goods covered by contested trade mark are everyday consumer goods and everyday services, …
moreCJEU dismisses the appeal of Birkenstock regarding their figurative mark representing a pattern of wavy, crisscrossing lines
Trade Mark Law - The General Court was entitled to hold that the applicability of the case-law relating to three-dimensional marks that are indissociable from the appearance of the goods - that are devoid of any distinctive character unless they depart significantly from the norm or customs of the sector - is …
moreEuropean Parliament votes in favour of new copyright laws
BBC News: “Controversial new copyright laws have been approved by members of the European Parliament. The laws had been changed since July when the first version of the copyright directive was voted down. Critics say they remain problematic. Many musicians and creators claim the reforms are necessary to fairly …
moreA-G CJEU: EU law does not preclude national legislation concerning publication
Case C-215/17. Nova Kreditna Banka Maribo d.d. v Republika Slovenija. Opinon A-G Bobek. Request for a preliminary. Vrhovno sodišče Republike Slovenije (Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia).
Copyright - Trade Secrets Law. Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor d.d. ('NKBM') is a Slovenian Bank. A journalist made a …
moreCIOPORA Academy Workshop on Intellectual Property for Plants - September 5 - 6, 2018
CIOPORA & Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney: "CIOPORA Academy is partnering with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney to bring the next workshop in its series to Washington, D.C. The workshop will provide participants with a 360-degree perspective on the available IP instruments for plant innovators and, for the first …
moreMember States are required to recognize a body collectively representing trade mark proprietors if national law allows that body to bring legal proceedings
Litigation - Collective rights management - Member States are required under article 4(c) of the EU Enforcement Directive to recognize a body collectively representing trade mark proprietors as a person entitled to seek, in its own name, the application of the remedies laid down in the EU Enforcement Directive and to …
morePosting a presentation written by one of the school's pupils on the school website, which included a photograph that is freely accessible on the internet can be considered as an act of communication to a new public
Copyright - Posting a photograph that was published on another website, made with the same technical means, without any restrictive measures and with consent of the copyright holder falls under the concept “communication to the public”: There is an “act of communication” when such posting gives visitors to …
moreCJEU on criteria for products that are "protected by a basic patent in force” in the SPC Regulation for Medicinal Products
Patent Law - A product composed of several active ingredients with a combined effect is ‘protected by a basic patent in force’ within the meaning of Article 3(a) of the SPC Regulation for Medicinal Products where, even if the combination of active ingredients of which that product is composed is not expressly …
moreTrade mark propietor is entitled to oppose debranding
Trade Mark Law - Trade mark proprietor is entitled to oppose, on the grounds of Article 5 of the Trade Marks Directive (2008) and Article 9 of the EU Trade Mark Regulation, a third party removing all the signs identical to that mark and affixing other signs, without its consent, on products placed in the customs …
moreIViR: "Number of Internet pirates in Europe decreases, legal media consumption rising"
From the press release: "The percentage of Internet users in Europe that occasionally downloads or streams music, films, series, books or games illegally, e.g. via The Pirate Bay or PopcornTime, has decreased between 2014 and 2017. This decrease is strongest for music, films and series. Meanwhile, expenditure on …
moreEvidence submitted by KitKat must be capable of establishing acquired distinctive character throughout all Member States
Court of Justice of the European Union Press Release: "[...] The Court concludes that, although it is not necessary, for the purposes of registering a mark that was formerly devoid of distinctive character, that evidence of the acquisition by that mark of distinctive character through use be submitted in respect of …
moreA-G CJEU: taste does not constitute a work
Case C-310/17: Levola v Smilde. Opinion A-G Wathelet.
The court of appeal Arnhem-Leeuwarden (Dutch court) has referred two questions to the Court of Justice for preliminary ruling about the possibility to copyright the taste of a food product. A-G Wathelet considers that in view of the current state of the …
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