Nintendo 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. […]
... more
Zoom.in sentenced to grant unrestricted access to its CMS to MN
IP contract law - Zoom.in failed to sufficiently demonstrate that meetings its obligations towards MN, would lead to the demise of the company: It can by no means be concluded that an agreement with YouTube, with the retention of the identity and independence of MN, could not be in agreement with...
morePeaceful coexistence between marks in part of EU does not mean no likelihood of confusion in other part of EU
Trade Mark Law - The fact that EU trade mark and national mark peacefully coexist in part of the European Union does not allow the conclusion that in another part of the European Union, where peaceful coexistence between that EU trade mark...
moreOpinion A-G ECJ concerning exclusive jurisdiction of article 22(4) Brussel I
Trade Mark Law - Litigation - The A-G concludes that an action (seeking an order requiring the person formally registered as proprietor of a Benelux mark to make a declaration to...
moreA trade mark which refers to a good or service of high quality which is abundantly present cannot be indicated as geographical origin
Trade Mark Law - A trade mark such as LA MILLA DE ORO – which refers to a good or service with a high degree of value which is abundantly present in a single place – cannot constitute an...
moreNLO: Can a plant rule supplant a plant decision?
In 2015, the so-called Tomato-II and Broccoli-II cases (G 2/12 and G 2/13) reached decisions from the Enlarged Board of Appeal. These decisions held that ‘plant products such as fruits, seeds and parts of plants are patentable even if they are obtained through essentially biological...
moreEPO amends regulations on patentability of plants and animals
From the press release: "Munich, 29 June 2017 -- On a proposal of the European Patent Office its Administrative Council took a decision to amend the relevant Regulations in order to exclude from patentability plants and animals exclusively obtained by an essentially biological breeding process.
moreThe disparagement clause violates the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause
Trade mark law - Free speech - The disparagement clause violates the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause: the disparagement clause reaches any trademark that disparages any person, group, or institution, goes much further than necessary and is...
moreNew Regulation on the European Union trade mark from 1 October 2017
Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 of 14 June 2017 on the European Union trade mark (codification) has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 16 June 2017.
morePurely plant based products may in principle not be marketed under designations for milk products
Sales Descriptions - Purely plant based products may not be marketed under terms as ‘milk’ and other designations that are reserved exclusively for milk products by Regulation No 1308/2013: even if those terms are expanded upon by clarifying or descriptive terms indicating the plant origin of the...
moreCPVO president has the power to insert, on completion of the technical examination of a variety, a new characteristic in respect of that variety
Plant Variety Rights - General Court erred in law in the finding that Article 23(1) of the implementing regulation did not grant the President of the CPVO the power to insert, on completion of the technical examination of a variety, a new characteristic...
moreMaking available and managing platform such as “The Pirate Bay” constitutes communication to the public
Copyright - The making available and management of an online sharing platform such as The Pirate Bay that offers an index classifying protected works and a search engine that allows users of that platform to locate those works and to share them in...
moreGerman Constitutional Court stops implementation UPC
The German Constitutional Court has asked the German legislator to put the implementation of the UPC on hold. The reason of this request, according to the German media, is a constitutional complaint by an unnamed private person.
...
moreThe use of an individual EU trade mark as a label of quality is not a genuine use
Trade Mark Law - The use of an individual EU trade mark as a label of quality is not a genuine use. An individual trade mark cannot be declared invalid, on the basis of Article 52(1)(a) and Article 7(1)(g), because the proprietor of the mark...
moreRequest for preliminary ruling concerning the sampling of phonograms
A request for preliminary ruling in the case of the sampling of Kraftwerk’s Metall auf Metall.
moreRelaunch IP-PorTal: platform for EU IP Law
IP-Portal publishes EU intellectual property materials for IP professionals and students of European IP law. IP-Portal is a publication of B9 Publishing, the publisher of the Dutch IP-website www.boek9.nl, live since 2004.
more
