Trade Mark Law - In examining the distinctive character of a sign in respect of which registration as a trade mark is sought, all the relevant facts and circumstances must be taken into account, including all the likely types of use of the mark applied for. Uses which are conceivable but not practically significant and...

Trade Mark Law - Bad faith (article 52(1) under b) CTMR (former)): when one has the intention of undermining, in a manner inconsistent with honest practices, the interests of third parties, or with the intention of obtaining an exclusive right for purposes other than those falling within the functions of a trade mark...

Copyright - Case C-666/18: IT Development v Free Mobile. Conclusie A-G Sánchez-Bordona.

Copyright. The French cour d’appel de Paris asks whether a software licensee’s non-compliance with the terms of a software licence constitutes an infringement (for the purposes of Directive 2004/48 of 29 April 2004) or...

BOIP press release: "BOIP drastically improves searching figurative trademarks in its trademark register through a collaboration with Darts-ip.

This innovative tool uses artificial intelligence to enable anyone to simply upload an image and search the entire register for identical or similar trademarks. It will be...

EUIPO: "The next edition of DesignEuropa Awards will be held in Eindhoven on 20 October 2020.

Organised by the European Union Intellectual Property Office, the DesignEuropa Awards have become a fixture on the international industrial design calendar.

Now in their third edition, the DesignEuropa Awards honour...

Privacy - The consent for the use of cookies is not validly constituted if the user must deselect a pre-checked checkbox to refuse his or her consent. The information that the service provider must give to a website user includes the duration of the operation of cookies and whether or not third parties may have access...

Copyright - Case C-597/19: M.I.C.M. v BVBA Telenet. Preliminary questions Ondernemingsrechtbank Antwerpen – Belgium.

Preliminary questions:

“1(a) Can the downloading of a file via a peer-to-peer network and the simultaneous provision for uploading of parts (‘pieces’) thereof (which may be very...

EUIPO press release: "Intellectual property rights strongly benefit the European economy, EPO-EUIPO study finds [...] 

Industries that make intensive use of intellectual property rights (IPRs) such as patents, trademarks, industrial designs and copyright generate 45% of GDP (EUR 6.6 trillion) in the EU annually...

IPR Enforcement Case-Law Collection - The liability and obligations of intermediary service providers in the European Union - Augustus 2019

"[...] This case-law collection provides an overview of the latest developments in this fast evolving area and of the main conclusions of selected cases including decisions...

Copyright - Design law - Copyright protection may not be granted to designs on the sole ground that, over and above their practical purpose, they produce a specific aesthetic effect: designs must constitute the expression of original works if they are to qualify for such protection.

Copyright - A German provision prohibiting internet search engines from using newspaper or magazine snippets without the publisher’s authorisation must be disregarded in the absence of its prior notification to the Commission: that provision constitutes a rule on information society services and, therefore, a...

NBC News: "Federal regulators on Wednesday rejected Ohio State University in its bid to trademark "the" in front of OSU's name, saying such protection just isn't necessary.

The school in Columbus has aggressively marketed itself with the three-letter word, with Buckeyes sports organizations insisting on being...

CNN: "Air New Zealand's attempts to trademark a logo of a common Māori greeting has sparked anger and threats of a boycott from the Māori community.

The Māori phrase "kia ora," which translates literally as "be well," is widely used across the country to mean "hello."

Air New Zealand said that it wanted to...

Trade mark law - Private International Law - In the event of an alleged infringement through online advertising, the proprietor of a EU trade mark may bring an infringement action against a third party before the national trade mark court where the target audience of the infringing online advertisement is located.

Opinion of advocate-general Szpunar regarding NUV/Tom Kabinet  (C‑263/18). The referring court has asked the Court four questions concerning whether the supply of e-books by downloading online for permanent use is covered by the right of distribution within the meaning of Article 4 of Directive 2001/29, whether that...

Hollywoodreporter.com: "A lawsuit involving a series of Detroit murals may define how much protection artists have if their work is in plain sight on the exterior of a building.

[...]

The luxury automaker in March sued four artists who saw a series of G Class truck Instagram ads that showed their work...

Case C-500/19. Puls 4 TV. Preliminary questions Oberster Gerichtshof – Austria.

Copyright. Preliminary questions. “1. Is Article 14(1) of Directive 2000/31/EC to be interpreted as meaning that the operator of an online video platform, as a host service provider, plays an active role, leading to a loss of the...

Case C-501/19: UCMR – ADA Asociația pentru Drepturi de Autor a Compozitorilor - Pro Management Insolv IPURL.

"Preliminary reference on the interpretation of Council Directive 2006/112/EC"

Preliminary questions:

"1. Do the holders of rights in musical works supply services within the meaning of...

Trade Mark Law - Justified declaration that Red Bull trade marks consisting of a combination of the colours blue and silver per se are invalid: General Court correctly applied the principles stemming from the Heidelberger Bauchemie judgement (IPPT20040624), considering that the mark was not systematically arranged in...

Copyright - Military status reports constituting purely informative documents, the content of which is essentially determined by the information which they contain and that those reports are thus entirely characterised by their technical function, are not protected by copyright: creativity has not been expressed in an...