Understanding Trademark Law Through the Lens of Halloween: A Spooky Guide

Post date: 
October 30, 2024
Categories: 
Brand, European Union Trademark, Trademark Law, Trademarks, IP Rights, Intellectual Property Law
Tags: 
#halloween

Understanding Trademark Law Through the Lens of Halloween: A Spooky Guide

Halloween, with its pumpkins, costumes, and haunted houses, is one of the most exciting and creative times of the year. But behind the spooky masks and candy bowls lies a complex world of Intellectual Property Law, especially trademarks, which many businesses need to navigate carefully during the season.

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Brand Finance: Global Brand 500

Post date: 
May 01, 2015
Categories: 
Uncategorized
The world’s leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance just published the Global Brand 500 report. Brand Finance puts thousands of the world’s biggest brands to the Global Brand Test every year, evaluating which are the most powerful and most valuable Brands in the World. The most valuable brands in the world Below you can see the 10 most valuable brands in the world. Apple maintained its number on position even if critics complained that Apple missed the opportunity to exploit the explosive growth of the smartphone market in developing economies by the high price of the iPhone (iPhone 6 starting with 649,00 US-Dollar). Apple is followed by Samsung, which is the most valuable brand from Asia with a brand value of 81,716 billion US Dollars. The German BMW brand is the most valuable brand in Europe, but, with a value of 33,079 US Dollar it is just ranked 17.

INTA Annual Meeting 2015

Post date: 
April 29, 2015
Categories: 
Uncategorized
The International Trademark Association (INTA), headquartered in New York City, is a global association of trademark owners and professionals dedicated to supporting trademarks and related intellectual property in order to protect consumers and to promote fair and effective commerce.

EU Trademark Reform Package

Post date: 
April 24, 2015
Categories: 
Uncategorized
At the 21 April 2015 the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council have reached in so-called "trilogue discussions" provisional political agreement. The pillars of the trademark reform are:

Puma vs. Pudel – German Trademark Case

Post date: 
April 22, 2015
Categories: 
Uncategorized
The German Federal Court of Justice decided that the holder of an older trademark is allowed to demand for the cancellation of a registered trademark which is just a parody of their established trademark (Judgment dated 2 April 2015; Case No.: I ZR 59/13). Background of the Case and Subject Matter In 2006 the defendant - a T-shirt designer from Hamburg - registered the word/device mark No. 30567514 “Pudel” („ poodle“) in combination with the image of a “leaping poodle” (see right below) at the German Patent and Trademark office (GPTO). The plaintiff - the famous manufacturer of sports equipment, Puma SE, is the owner of the German word/device mark No. 954 023, consisting of the word “Puma” and the image of a “leaping wild puma” since 1977. The plaintiff sought the cancellation of the defendant’s trademark because Puma SE is of the opinion that the defendant is infringing their trademark rights.

Protecting Designs - The Hague System

Post date: 
April 15, 2015
Categories: 
Uncategorized
The Hague Agreement is an international registration system which offers the possibility of obtaining protection for industrial designs in a number of States and/or intergovernmental organizations by means of a single international application filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Introduction The Hague Agreement is consist of four international treaties:

Brand Value Survey 2015 – Banking

Post date: 
April 01, 2015
Categories: 
Brand
Tags: 
Brand, Brand Finance Banking 500, Brand Value, Finance Brands
In February 2015 the Brand Finance Banking 500 ranking was published in “The Banker” magazine. This annual ranking of the 500 most valuable brands in the banking business is created by Brand Finance. Brand value of banks worldwide

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