Virtual Goods in Focus – EU General Court’s First Ruling

Post date: 
January 21, 2025
Categories: 
EUIPO, The Court of Justice of the European Union, Trademark Law, European General Court, Decisions, Distinctiveness, Intellectual Property
Tags: 
#virtualgoods, #gc, #watches, #glashuette

Virtual Goods in Focus – EU General Court’s First Ruling

The General Court (GC) has issued its first-ever ruling on the distinctiveness of a trademark applied to virtual goods. The decision T11163/23 dated 11 December 2024 – “Glashütte ORIGINAL”  concerned the application for the following sign:

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World Intellectual Property Day – Reach for Gold: IP and Sports

Post date: 
April 23, 2019
Categories: 
WIPO
Tags: 
World Intellectual Property Day

Every year on April 26 we celebrate the World Intellectual Property Day organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This year’s theme is “Reach for Gold: IP and Sports”. The campaign encourages taking a closer look inside the world of sports, where intellectual property rights also play an important role.

 

                                                            

What you see is what you get – Multimedia Marks

Post date: 
April 15, 2019
Categories: 
EUIPO, Trademarks
Tags: 
Trademarks

Traditional forms of trademarks will remain the most relevant, but companies should also start making more of the new possibilities to register and use more complex marks like hologram marks, motion marks or multimedia marks to strengthen their business. However, give a lot of thought into creating such marks to ensure they will be recognized as TRADEMARKS by the public.

 

                                                                                                 

EUTM No. 017451816                            EUTM No. 017941596                           EUTM No. 017965087

(Examples of multimedia marks registered with the EUIPO)

New CIPU report on IP Awareness and Attitudes

Post date: 
April 11, 2019
Categories: 
Intellectual Property
Tags: 
IP, CIPU, Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents

In April 2019, the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding (CIPU) published a report regarding IP awareness and attitudes. The report summarizes and collects together 15 studies and surveys focusing on IP awareness and perception among consumers, small businesses and college students.

 

                                            

At a glance: Higher Regional Court Frankfurt a.M. rules on international competence of German courts for adverts on the Internet (Decision 6 U 3/18 of 14 February 2019)

Post date: 
April 05, 2019
Categories: 
Procedural rules, Unfair Competition Law, Decisions

On 14 February 2019, the Higher Regional Court Frankfurt a.M. ruled that German courts have an international competence for adverts on the Internet in particular, if those adverts are provided on a “.de”-top-level-domain and if the web presence does not contain indications that the offer is not directed to German customers.

EUIPO/OECD Report: Trends in Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods

Post date: 
April 03, 2019
Categories: 
Brand, Product Piracy, Counterfeiting
Tags: 
EUIPO, OECD

In March 2019, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a study estimating the total value of counterfeit and pirated goods traded both globally and on EU level. The new report updates the original analysis from 2016. According to the report, the intensity of counterfeiting and piracy is clearly on the rise.

 

                                                 

ECJ landmark case: Successful invalidity proceedings against an EU design based on an earlier trademark

Post date: 
March 28, 2019
Categories: 
ECJ - European Court of Justice, EUIPO, European Union Trademark, Likelihood of confusion, Three-dimensional trademarks, Decisions, Design Law

ECJ landmark case: Successful invalidity proceedings against an EU design based on an earlier trademark

With its decision dated 6 March 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed a decision of the European General Court (GC) concerning invalidity proceedings between Ferrero SpA (Ferrero) and BMB sp. z o.o. (BMB) regarding the following opposing IP rights.

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McDonald’s failed to prove genuine use regarding its EU Trademark ‘BIG MAC’

Post date: 
March 07, 2019
Categories: 
EUIPO, European Intellectual Property Office, European Union Trademark, Trademarks, Decisions
Tags: 
proof of genuine use, EUIPO

The Cancellation Division of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) surprisingly revoked the European Union Trademark ‘BIG MAC’ in its decision of 11 January 2019 (Cancellation No 14 788 C).

                                              

15 Top Brands - Interactive Brand Rating - Years 2000 - 2018

Post date: 
February 22, 2019
Categories: 
Brand
Tags: 
Brands, Best Global Brands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQovQUga0VE

Here’s to you, Tempo! – Germany’s probably most famous trademark turned 90.

Post date: 
February 19, 2019
Categories: 
Brand, German Patent and Trademark Office, German Trademarks, Intellectual Property, IP Rights, Trademarks

German trademark no. 407752 “Tempo” (word mark) was filed on 29 January 1929 and, hence, celebrates its 90th birthday this year. Even the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) contributes to this fact and has recently published a laudatory article (https://www.dpma.de/english/our_office/publications/milestones/tempo90/i...) about the trademark and its different owners who have changed several times over the past decades. With the present blog article, we wish to congratulate the trademark Tempo to its impressive genesis but also highlight issues resulting from exorbitant fame of trademarks – which is both a blessing and a curse.

Trademarks: Division and Merging of International Registrations

Post date: 
February 13, 2019
Categories: 
Trademarks
Tags: 
international registrations, division, merging

On 1 February 2019, amendments to the Common Regulations under the Madrid Agreement and Protocol came into force. While it had already been possible to partially transfer an International Registration to a new owner, it is now also possible to request the division of an International Registration for only some of the goods and services in respect of a designated Contracting Party.