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 IP Day 2015 – Get up, stand up. For music.

Post date: 
March 24, 2015
Categories: 
Uncategorized
Every April 26 - the day on which the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) Convention came into force in 1970 - the WIPO celebrates the World Intellectual Property Day to promote discussions about the importance and role of intellectual property. The WIPO’s member states designated this day with the aim of increasing the general understanding of intellectual property, including trademarks, designs, patents, utility models etc. Each year, a special topic and focus is picked.

Save the Date: Seminar „IP and Company Value” in Munich on 15 June 2015

Post date: 
March 12, 2015
Categories: 
Copyright Law
Tags: 
Alexandra Dellmeier, Brands, company, Hannah Eckermann, IP, IP and Company Value, Seminar, Start Up
We invite all our readers come to our seminar “IP Company and Value” on 15 June 2015 in Munich, Germany. Since the foundation of our law firm in 2009, we focus on our client’s intellectual property needs - from a legal, but, also from a business perspective. On 15 June 2015 we will hold an interesting and exiting seminar about “IP and Company Value” in German.  Our experienced lawyers Mrs. Alexandra Dellmeier and Mrs. Hannah Eckermann and the management consultant, Mr. Johannes Spannagl, will give lectures about the creation, evaluation and defense of intellectual property rights. The seminar will be especially interesting for start-ups as well as medium-sized and large companies who want to know the value of and enforce their IP rights. We are looking forward to seeing some of you at our seminar.

EGC: Community Trademark VOODOO is not descriptive

Post date: 
March 11, 2015
Categories: 
German Patent and Trademark Office
Tags: 
Bad Faith, Declaration of invalidity, descriptive, distinctive character, European General Court, VOODOO
The European General Court (EGC) decided that the Community Trademark (CTM) VOODOO is not descriptive because the word “VOODOO” will just be seen as a fantasy term with a vague reference to some occult practices by the average consumer (Judgment dated 18 November 2014; Case No.: T‑50/13). Background of the Case and Subject Matter On 15 April 2007, the applicant filed for a CTM at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) for the word mark “VOODOO” for clothing. On 10 March 2010 the CTM was registered under the number 5832464.

Invalidity of Community Design for Chocolate filled Cookie

Post date: 
March 04, 2015
Categories: 
Design Law
Tags: 
Choclate filled cookie, Community Designs, complex product, Cookie, Declaration of invalidity, Design, European General Court, OHIM
The General Court of the European Union (EGC) decided that the invisible character of a product - in this case a cookie - does not relate to the appearance and therefore cannot taken into account in the examination of the requirements to fulfill for registration.  An exception occurs only when the design meets the requirements of a complex product. Therefore, it has to be composed of multiple components which can be replaced permitting disassembly and re-assembly. For these reasons, this registered design for a chocolate filled cookie was invalidated (Judgment dated 9 September 2014; Case No.: T 494/12). Background of the Case and Subject Matter

Coca - Cola vs. Master Cola at the European General Court

Post date: 
February 25, 2015
Categories: 
Brand Value
Tags: 
Board of Appeal, Brand Reputation, Coca Cola, Community Trademark, General Court of the European Union, Likelihood of confusion, Master Cola, OHIM, T-480/12
The General Court of the European Union (EGC) decided that that a likelihood of confusion between the word/device mark “Master” of Modern Industrial & Trading Investment Co. Ltd and the earlier trademark “Coca Cola” of the Coca - Cola Company cannot be excluded (Judgment dated 11 December 2014; Case No.: T‑480/12).

EU Trademark Office publishes unique IP Metro Road Map

Post date: 
February 23, 2015
Categories: 
Uncategorized
The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), the responsible office in the EU for registering Community Trademarks and Community Designs having the "automatic" effect throughtout 28 national EU Member States, just published a unique map which gives a quick overview on Intellectual Property (here: Trademarks, Designs, Patents and Copyrights).

EGC: Quotations of prices in computerized booking systems

Post date: 
February 18, 2015
Categories: 
Uncategorized
Tags: 
C 573/13, computerized booking system, European General Court, prices for air services
The EGC (European General Court) decided that in the context of a computerized booking system, the final price to be paid must be indicated whenever the prices of air services are shown (Judgment dated 15 January 2015; C

Brand Octopuses

Post date: 
February 13, 2015
Categories: 
Brand Value
Tags: 
Brand Octopuses, Brand Value, global consumers market
The world is filled with milion of brands but, behind most of them are only a few big cooperations. These companies control the gobal consumers markets for food, beverages, cleaning preperations, personal care products, cosmetics and cigarettes. They control the production of industrial sugar, fat and other ingredients which are essential for all other favourite cosumegoods. The German Newpaper „Die Zeit“ illustrated the big brands on sale and their revenues in Germany.

2014: Statistics for Community Trademarks

Post date: 
February 11, 2015
Categories: 
Brand Value
Tags: 
Community Trademark, development of trademarks, TM5
The „TM5“ just published a Statistics about the development of Community Trademarks in 2014. Below you can see that 117.451 Community Trademark (CTM) Applications were received by OHIM in 2014. As you can see, the E-Filling is meanwhile the most popular application form since its introduction in 2005.

VoteBash – a new brand and a worldwide social voting site

Post date: 
February 05, 2015
Categories: 
Brand Value
Tags: 
Brand, LexDellmeier, Martijn Atell, Social Network, Trademark, VoteBash
What is VoteBash?