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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Louboutin’s Red Soles - The first verdict is here!

Post date: 
August 22, 2011
Categories: 
Decisions
Yves Saint Laurent may still sell his red-soled shoes.

As we had reported before on LexDellmeier’s „Not just another IP-Blog“, the famous luxury shoe brand Christian Louboutin had sued the just as famous luxury fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent for damages because of an infringement of Christian Louboutin’s trademark right of the Red Sole. With a preliminary injunction they wanted to stop Yves Saint Laurent from selling the shoes that featured a red sole.

“.yourtrademark” - New Generic TLDs - Will a Revolution start on 12 January 2012?

Post date: 
August 18, 2011
Categories: 
I-law
Tags: 
ICANN, Infringement, New TLDs, Top Level Domain, Trademarks

NET NEUTRALITY - Appointment as an Expert for the EU

Post date: 
July 20, 2011
Categories: 
I-law
Tags: 
EESC, EU, European Commission, European Parliament, European Union, IP-Lawyer, Law, Net Neutrality
Besides the traditional fields of trademarks, designs, copyrights, the attorneys at LexDellmeier also advise on media & web issues relating to intellectual property. Due to the expertise in the fields of IP, internet, media & web, LexDellmeier's founder, Alexandra Dellmeier-Beschorner, has just recently been appointed as an Expert in Group III of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). The EESC was created in 1957 and serves as an advisory and consultative board for the European Commission and the European Parliament. On 19 July 2011 the EESC's first meeting with respect to "The open internet and net neutrality in Europe" together with representatives from the European Commission and Parliament took place in Brussels. 1. What is net neutrality?

„Throwing on my Louboutins“,

Post date: 
June 30, 2011
Categories: 
Trademark Law
Tags: 
Fashion, Infringement, IP-Lawyer, position mark, Registration, Trademarks
is a line in the lyrics of a Jennifer Lopez song. The song somehow flopped, but the shoes  are a legend and commonly recognized by their famous red soles. And because of those shoes the eyes of fashionistas and lawyers are fixed on a law suit that was filed by Christian Louboutin against Yves Saint Laurent  before a Federal Court in Manhattan just recently. Subject matter is of course the famous red sole that Louboutin has registered as a trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office. He also has pending applications in the European Union - among others as referred to a so-called "position mark". Louboutin is suing Yves Saint Laurent now because in the latest collection the red soled shoes (the “Palais Pump“ and the „Palais Slingback“) were featured. Louboutin considers this an infringement of his trademark(s).

LexDellmeier - 2011 Winner - Category: "Trade Marks Law Firm of the Year in Germany"

Post date: 
May 30, 2011
Categories: 
Trademark Law
Tags: 
Finance Monthly, LexDellmeier, Trademarks
LexDellmeier is thrilled and proud to announce that our firm is the winner of the Finance Monthly Law Award 2011 in the category "Trade Marks Law Firm of the Year in Germany". Just a couple of days ago we were informed by Finance Monthly, a leading magazine for chief executive officers, chief financial officers, corporate tax directors, investment professionals, lawyers, professional advisors, government organisations and academics.

Embedding a „Like“ Button is not unfair competition.

Post date: 
May 04, 2011
Categories: 
Decisions
Tags: 
Facebook, TMG, Unfair Competition, UWG
For the first time a German court had to decide on the question if the use of the Facebook “Like” button on an internet sales page complied with the rules against unfair competition, if the button was placed without indicating that data of logged-in Facebook users would be transmitted to Facebook. The decision by the Regional Court of Berlin dated 14 March 2011 meanwhile published in German is of great interest with respect to the question of infringement of (German) unfair competition laws.

No money for the creator of the famous “Tatort“ opening scene.

Post date: 
March 11, 2011
Categories: 
Copyright Law
Tags: 
§32a UrhG, Copyright, Copyright Law, Film, Television
For decades  Germans have been watching "Tatort" (in English "Crime Scene") on Sunday evenings. It is a famous crime series in which each episode shows a different crime movie of about 90 minutes. „Tatort“ is created by several different directors, and every one of them has created his own detective with his own personal work and lifestyle in one of Germany’s cities (similar to the much younger US series "CSI").  The „Tatort“ series has brought forward the talent of many directors and the G erman audience loved the various detectives and with which the different actors were associated with. Fact is, that  „Tatort“ has entertained many generations in Germany - watching detectives appearing, aging and retiring with the years.

"Neuschwanstein" is not a trademark!

Post date: 
February 15, 2011
Categories: 
Decisions
Tags: 
BPatG, Distinctiveness, DPMA, Trademarks
The German Federal Patent Court (Bundespatentgericht - BPatG) has confirmed the cancellation of the trademark „Neuschwanstein“. The trademark “Neuschwanstein” had been registered for a wide range of goods and services but after a cancellation request because of its lack of distinctiveness according to § 8 II No. 1 German Trademark Act (GTA), the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) had cancelled it. Upon the appeal the German Federal Patent Court had confirmed the missing distinctiveness for the following reasons: The expression “Neuschwanstein” is the name of the world famous castle and tourist attraction in Bavaria, that was originally built for King Ludwig I and that has reached an outstanding cultural and historical importance and recognition.

How distinctive is the Easter Bunny? Or Rudolph the red-nosed trademark?

Post date: 
February 01, 2011
Categories: 
Decisions
Tags: 
3-D-Mark, Decision, Distinctiveness, OHIM, The General Court, Trademarks
Just a few days before Europe headed into the 2010 Christmas break the General Court released a range of decisions that had a very festive topic as if the Court had scheduled it right on time to get into the right Christmas mood. The Court dealt with the question whether the three-dimensional form of a chocolate object and/or its wrapping was suitable to be registered as a Community Trademark. In this specific case, the decisions dealt with a particular shape of a sitting chocolate Easter Bunny (Case No. T-395/08), the same bunny but in a golden wrapping and a red pleated ribbon with a bell around its neck (Case No. T-336/08), a reindeer, also in a golden wrapping with the same red ribbon and bell around its neck (Case No. T-337/08) and finally the red pleated ribbon with the bell itself (Case No. T-346/08).

Why you need us for registering trademarks and designs?

Post date: 
January 30, 2011
Categories: 
Design Law
Tags: 
Designs, Infringement, IP-Lawyer, Law, Registration, Trademarks
If you are interested in obtaining a trademark or a design you surely have visited the websites of the relevant offices like GPTO (DPMA), OHIM or WIPO and you will have discovered that they provide a useful guidance and all necessary forms you need for registering your trademark or your design. So why should you spend money hiring an IP-lawyer? Why shouldn’t you do it all by yourself, you might ask yourself. It’s true you can do it all by yourself. Most offices do not require that you are represented by a lawyer. But registering trademarks and designs by yourself bears a great risk that can most probably make the registration an extremely expensive adventure that might not even end with obtaining the trademark or the design. Here are four reasons why hiring us as your IP-lawyers is a good investment: