The German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) recently rendered a decision on trademark use in the field of textiles that is worth reading.

In general, use as a trademark requires that a significant part of the relevant public recognizes a sign as indicating the origin of a product. For that, it is not sufficient that a sign is originally distinctive and that its use is not plainly descriptive. Instead, use as a trademark has to be assessed in each case individually taking into account all circumstances of the case. Thus, use of a first name like “SAM” as a model designation can also constitute use as a trademark and, in consequence, be deemed trademark infringement.

  Weiterlesen über „Model: Sam“ - Use as a trademark or a simple model designation?

Alexandra Dellmeier and Freia Andrea Breier will represent the LexDellmeier Team at the International Trademark Association’s 141st Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, from 18 – 22 May 2019.

                                           Weiterlesen über Meet us at Business Hub #35 at INTA

On 15 April 2019, the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, a.k.a. the EU Copyright Directive, was approved by the Council of the European Union.

As the European Commission emphasizes (please see https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/modernisation-eu-copyright...), the new Directive should support “creating a Digital Single Market” and “bringing down barriers to unlock online opportunities”. The aim is to provide EU copyright rules that fit to the digital age.

The main goals are:

•    better access to online content and across borders, 

•    improved copyright rules for education, research, cultural heritage and inclusion of disabled people and

•    a fairer online environment for creators, the press and a well-functioning marketplace for copyrights. Weiterlesen über It’s a done deal: Modernization of the EU copyright rules

Intellectual property authorities of China have recently gone through major changes. This blog post briefly introduces the merger of patent and trademark authorities into the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).

                                              Weiterlesen über Chinese IP Authorities now under ‘CNIPA’