Overdue reform: at last Romania is set to transpose the Trade Mark Directive
by Florica Rus – Published on 3 July at Kluwer Trademark Blog Yesterday, 2 July 2020, the European Commission announced that it will refer Romania to the CJEU for not implementing the Trade Mark Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/2436) – see here. While the deadline to transpose the Trade...
EUIPO – further general deadline extension until 18 May 2020
Dear Friends, Hot off the press: the EUIPO has just announced a further general extension of all deadlines until 18 May 2020. The Decision of the Executive Director (Decision No. EX-20-4) can be found here. Initially, the EUIPO had extended all deadlines until 1 May 2020, assuming...
Book Review: “Likelihood of Confusion in Trade Mark Law” by Jeroen Muyldermans and Paul Maeyaert
by Verena von Bomhard – Published on April 6, 2020 at Kluwer Trademark Blog Jeroen Muyldermans and Paul Maeyaert, both experienced IP litigators at the renowned Belgian law firm Altius, have undertaken the humungous task of compiling, analysing, structuring and presenting the case law deriving from...
EUIPO extends all deadlines – statutory or set by the Office – until 1 May 2020
As that is a public holiday (and a Friday), this means that, as from now, all deadlines will not end before 4 May 2020. See here for the Decision of 16 March 2020 of the Executive Director....
Not all trees are magic: Julius Sämann loses before the General Court
by Verena von Bomhard – Published on 25 February at Kluwer Trademark Blog On 30 January 2020, the General Court of the European Union confirmed the Board of Appeal’s decision rejecting the opposition brought by Julius Sämann against the EUTM application for the sign shown above,...
Sony scores twice in Luxembourg – in the same case!
by Verena von Bomhard – Published on 4 February at Kluwer Trademark Blog By judgment of 19 December 2019, T-690/18, the General Court delivered the second victory to Sony over EUIPO in the same case concerning its EUTM “VITA” and registration thereof for a number of...
The bad faith conundrum in the EU continues – KOTON, SKY, ANN TAYLOR, NEYMAR, CAFÉ DEL MAR
by Florica Rus, Verena von Bomhard - Published on 31 October at Kluwer Trademark Blog Bad faith is on the rise – whether in reality or as a useful weapon against trade marks is another question. Recently, both the General Court (GC) and the Court of...
De-branding and rebranding are trademark infringements! CJEU on Mitsubishi forklift trucks matter
On 25 July 2018 (C-129/17), the CJEU decided that de-branding and rebranding of goods prior to any trade within the EEA without the trademark proprietor’s consent constituted ‘use in the course of trade’ of the originally affixed trademark and could, therefore, be prohibited by the...
CJEU on the Kit Kat shape and acquired distinctiveness of EU trade marks for shapes
On 25 July 2018, the CJEU handed down its ruling in the latest edition of the battle between Nestlé and Mondelez over the KIT KAT shape (C-84, 85, 95/17 P). This time, the discussion focused on whether a non-traditional EU trade mark that is not...