Genuine use. Breadth of categories of goods or services for which the earlier mark was registered is a key element of the balance between, on the one hand, the maintenance and preservation of the exclusive rights conferred on the proprietor of the earlier mark and, on the other hand, the limitation of those rights in...

The three-year period of prescription in respect of claims of a holder of a plant variety right starts to run from the date on which, first, the plant variety right was granted and, second, the holder had knowledge of the act and of the identity of the party liable, irrespective of the ongoing nature of an act of...

Patent Law - Article 3(d) of Regulation No 469/2009 must be interpreted as meaning that an MA cannot be considered to be the first MA, for the purpose of that provision, where it covers a new therapeutic application of an active ingredient, or of a combination of active ingredients, and that active ingredient or...

Case C‑401/19. Republic of Poland v European Parliament, Council of the European Union. Opinion of A-G Saugmandsgaard Øe.

The Republic of Poland asks the Court, principally, to annul Article 17(4)(b) and (c) of the DSM Directive and, in the alternative, to annul Article 17 in its entirety. To this end, the Republic...

Copyright - At the current state of EU law the operator of a video-sharing platform or a file-hosting and ‑sharing platform, on which users can illegally make protected content available to the public, does not make a ‘communication to the public’ of that content: users perform ‘act of communication’ now that they act...

Trade Mark Law - From the press release: "The General Court annuls the decision of EUIPO which dismissed Guerlain’s initial application. [...]

First, the General Court recalls that the assessment of whether it has distinctive character is not based on the originality or the lack of use of the mark applied for in...

Reuters: "France's antitrust watchdog slapped a 500 million euro ($593 million) fine on Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) on Tuesday for failing to comply with the regulator's orders on how to conduct talks with the country's news publishers in a row over copyright.

[...]

The case itself focused on whether Google breached...

Trade Mark Law - From the press release: "Ardagh Metal Beverage Holdings GmbH & Co. KG filed an application for registration of a sound sign as an EU trade mark with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). That sign, submitted as an audio file, recalls the sound made by a drinks can being opened...

Copyright -  Uploading previously downloaded media file containing a protected work by a user to the terminal equipment of another user constitutes making available to the public: users peer-to-peer network have knowledge of granting access to protected works to an indeterminate number of potential recipients. Holders...

Database Rights - Indexing and copying to your own server of substantial content of a database which is freely accessible on the internet is extraction and re-utilisation within the meaning of Article 7 Database Directive, which may be prohibited provided that they have the effect of depriving that person of income...

Related Rights - The concept of 'relevant performers' in Article 8(2) of Directive 2006/115 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property is to be interpreted in a uniform manner throughout the Union and precludes a Member State from excluding artists...

This consultation aims at gathering stakeholder evidence and views to support the review of the Community Design Regulation and the Design Directive. The review follows from an exhaustive evaluation of the EU legislation on design protection, which was supported by a comprehensive public consultation and two major...

The consultation aims at capturing the views of all relevant stakeholders. They will have the possibility to express their views on the problems related to the existing legal protection of authentic geographically-rooted non-agricultural products within the internal market; on the benefits and risk of EU action; on the...

Trade Mark Law - Judgment in Case T-44/20 Chanel SAS v EUIPO. 

Copyright - Related rights - The transmission by electronic means of a protected work to a court, as evidence in legal proceedings between individuals, cannot be regarded as a ‘communication to the public’: the protected work is received by a clearly defined and closed group of persons.

Copyright - The embedding, by means of framing, of a work available on a freely accessible website with the consent of the right holder, on the website of a third party, constitutes ‘communication to the public’ if, in doing so, the adopted or imposed measures to prevent framing are circumvented: to permit such...

Copyright - The holder of copyright in musical works supplies services for consideration within the meaning of the VAT Directive: there is a legal relationship of reciprocal exchange of services and remuneration are actual consideration for the service. Collective management organization is acting as a taxable person...

Trade Mark Law - Assessment of distinctive character of a sign consisting of coloured motifs applied on transport vehicles: in particular, account should be taken of perception by the relevant public and not necessary to examine whether that sign departs significantly from the norm or customs of the economic sector...

Trade Mark Law - A person operating in the course of trade that has arranged for an advertisement which infringes another person’s trade mark to be placed on a website is not using a sign which is identical with that trade mark when: the operators of other websites reproduce that advertisement by placing it online, on...

Press release from the General Court of the European Union in case BBQLOUMI (CJEU, 20 January 2021, T-328/17).

From the press release: "  The Foundation for the Protection of the Traditional Cheese of Cyprus named Halloumi is the proprietor of the EU collective mark HALLOUMI, registered for cheese. An EU...