Grau & Angulo | Spain | 8 Nov 2021
The so-called "consumer error theory" was a jurisprudential trend that held that for a crime to be committed it was necessary for the characteristics of the illicit products to sufficiently mislead the potential purchaser as to their authenticity. In a recent case, the Supreme Court stated that consumer error is not a requirement for a crime. This ruling will certainly have a huge impact on......
Westerberg & Partners Advokatbyrå Ab | Sweden | 1 Nov 2021
In a recent judgment, the Patent and Market Court of Appeal emphasised the conceptual differences between the trademarks LEGALROOM and LEGALZOOM. The Court considered the relevant Swedish public to have good knowledge of English and therefore to be capable of grasping the different meanings of "room" and "zoom". The Court concluded that the visual and phonetic similarities between the......
Arent Fox LLP | USA | 15 Apr 2019
This case shows the risks of imitating a market leader’s packaging, even if it appears to be common place, without market research and careful…
Hogan Lovells | USA | 12 Apr 2019
For any baseball fans already preparing to capitalize when their favorite team wins their next World Series game, you may strike out before getting up…
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP | USA | 2 Apr 2019
The Federal Circuit recently reminded the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board that when analyzing whether a likelihood of confusion exists between two…
Mirandah Asia | Singapore | 21 Mar 2019
On 24 January 2019, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore ("IPOS") delivered its written judgement dismissing an opposition filed by Swatch AG…
Smart & Biggar | Canada | 4 Mar 2019
A number of trademark cases were heard by the Canadian courts in 2018, including a decision on a motion for summary judgment brought by Duracell, a decision on whether Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited's trademarks were confusing in light of new survey evidence filed on appeal and a decision on whether retail store services require a brick-and-mortar establishment or direct delivery of products......
Danubia Patent and Law Office LLC | Hungary | 4 Mar 2019
In a recent trademark dispute between Facebook and the owner of the applied-for mark 'mbook – ablak a világra' (ie, 'window to the world'), the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office, the Metropolitan Tribunal and the Metropolitan Court of Appeal came to the same decision on the merits and rejected the applied-for mark, albeit for different reasons. This result is logical, as the Facebook......
AKD | Netherlands | 18 Feb 2019
The Hague District Court recently issued a preliminary ruling in which it held that Lacoste could not invoke its famous crocodile trademark in order to prohibit the use of a crocodile motif on children's underwear. This preliminary judgment is one of only a few examples in which the use of a sign has been considered purely decorative (and thus could not be perceived as trademark use)....
Nater Dallafior Rechtsanwälte | Switzerland | 21 Jan 2019
The Federal Supreme Court and the Federal Administrative Court recently handed down conflicting decisions in two ostensibly similar cases concerning disputed family names. The cases demonstrate that while the use of family names in company names is permissible even if the family name is part of an older name of a company active in the same industry, no equivalent rule exists in trademark law.