Trade Mark Law -  The Cancellation Division rejects Looplabb's application for a declaration of the invalidity of the shape mark filed by Izipizi. The EUIPO considers that the criteria for assessing distinctiveness are the same for the various categories of marks. However, the relevant public's perception of different...

Trade Mark Law - Litigation - “Electrical energy” has not been wrongly excluded of the goods in Class 4 of the eighth edition of the classification of Nice: the argument that the General Court failed to adopt a ‘functional’ approach is unfounded, however, as rightly held by the General Court in paragraph 29 of the...

Trade Mark Law - A trade mark has been put to 'genuine use' for all goods if it is used for certain of the goods, such as very high priced luxury sports cars or only for parts or accessories of certain of the goods: the mere fact that cars for which a trade mark has been used may belong to a specific market of 'sports...

Protected designation of origin - Article 13(1) of Regulation No 1151/2012 (PDO scope of protection) covers, in a broad sense, all acts which may mislead the consumer as to the true origin of the product concerned: does not merely prohibit the use by a third party of the registered name and prohibits the reproduction...

In 2014, the artist, represented by the company Pest Control Services, applied for an EU trademark of the image 'Flower Thrower' to prevent the use of this piece by a greeting card company. The latter found that they were allowed to use the work because the maker is anonymous. Because of the anonymity, Banksy cannot...

Trade Mark Law - In 2011, Lionel Messi filed an application for registration of the shown figurative sign as an EU trade mark for sports clothing, footwear and equipment. An opposition was filed based on the EU word mark MASSI. The opposition was upheld by the EUIPO. The General Court however found that that the...

Opinion of Advocate General Szpunar. With the consent of the rightholder, a work has been made available on a freely accessible website. A third party has placed this work on his website by way of framing, while the rightholder has taken protection measures against framing. The third party has circumvented these...

Copyright - Related Rights - Articles 2 to 5 of Directive 2001/29 must be interpreted as meaning that the copyright protection provided for therein applies to a product whose shape is, at least in part, necessary to obtain a technical result: the product must be an original work resulting from intellectual creation...

Trade mark law - The Trade Mark Directive leaves Member States the option of allowing the proprietor of a trade mark whose rights in that mark have been revoked on expiry of the five-year period from its registration to make genuine use of the mark to retain the right to claim compensation for the injury sustained as a...

Trade mark law - In order to establish whether a sign consists exclusively of the shape of goods which is necessary to obtain a technical result, assessment does not have to be limited to the graphic representation of that sign: other relevant factors such as the perception of the relevant public can also be taken into...

Private International Law - Article 8(2)(a) of Directive 2004/48 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights must be interpreted as meaning that the term 'addresses' contained in that provision does not oblige platforms such as Youtube, in respect of a user who has uploades files which infringe an intellectual...

Trade mark law - A natural person who has imported - without the consent of the proprietor of the trade mark that is affixed to them - ball bearings weighing 710 kg on behalf of a third party and has retained and stored them, prior to their being uplifted for onward shipment to a non-Member State in exchange for a...

Copyright - According to Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe, online platfors like Youtube are - as EU law currently stands - not directly liable for the illegal uploading of protected works by the users of those platforms.

As you may know, Directive 2019/790 introduces a new liability regime specific to works...

Privacy - Press release CJEU: “Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/1250 of 12 July 2016 pursuant to Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adequacy of the protection provided by the EU-US Privacy Shield is invalid.”

“On 15 May 2020 at its Annual Meeting, the European Patent Litigators Association (EPLIT) appointed Leythem Wall as its new President for the 2020-2022 term. EPLIT is an association for European patent attorneys, whose objectives are for promoting their participation in user friendly, fair, efficient and cost effective...

Trade mark law - Amazon is not infringing Coty trade marks by storing infringing perfumes on behalf of a third party without being aware of that infringement: the Court has already pointed out that ‘using’ involves active behaviour and direct or indirect control of the act constituting the use, in order for the storage...

Copyright - The hiring out of motor vehicles equipped with radio receivers does not constitute a communication to the public: in the case of the supply of a radio receiver forming an integral part of a hired motor vehicle, which makes it possible to receive, without any additional intervention by the leasing company...

"Caroline Pigott has joined the HGF Scottish team. She is dual qualified as a Scottish IP Solicitor and a Chartered Trade Mark Attorney and will be based in Edinburgh. Caroline will be looking to boost the firm’s trade mark presence in the region. Caroline’s  appointment follows another year of exceptional growth...

"HGF Ltd is delighted to announce that from the 1st of May 2020, Dr Jamie Thomson based in the Edinburgh office and Dr Nienke Lubben based in the York office have been promoted to Partner, increasing the Partner group to 63 Partners.

Paul Sanderson, CEO commented, “It is my pleasure to announce that Jamie and...

Trade mark law - The General Court did not err in law in finding that on the date on which the application for registration of the contested Gugler Community trade mark was filed, an economic link existed between Gugler France and Gugler GmbH (which precluded the finding of a likelihood of confusion): in CJEU Schweppes...