Sector: Consumer Goods

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Academy) has commenced legal action against a marketing company behind an unofficial Oscars gift bag that offers nominees, among other things, a vampire breast lift, a marijuana vaporiser and a sex toy. While the gift bag grabbed media headlines when first unveiled, expect the lawsuit to be the focus of similar attention.

18 February 2016

In the film industry, awards season is in full swing. While the Academy Awards will make international headlines this month for celebrating the best of the silver screen, in Germany there has been a flurry of media coverage of a rather different type of awards programme – one that hands a statuette of a black gnome with a golden nose to organisations that are allegedly exploiting the IP of other parties.

16 February 2016

The Board of Appeal has overturned an Estonian Patent Office decision finding that the mark GRILLCUBE was descriptive and lacked distinctive character. The Board of Appeal found that for a refusal, the meaning of the mark should describe some essential characteristics of the goods.

11 February 2016

A recent UDRP decision highlights that the omission of evidence will not be viewed lightly and could lead to a finding of reverse domain name hijacking, even if the respondent does not actually request this. It further demonstrates that it may also be extremely difficult to prove that a respondent was targeting a particular trademark owner when a domain name is very short.

10 February 2016

A recent General Court ruling which upheld a decision of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market’s Second Board of Appeal to refuse registration of the mark VITA+VERDE reinforces a number of existing principles in relation to the assessment of a likelihood of confusion.

08 February 2016

In a recent domain name dispute the panel found that the registrant had intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, internet users to an online location by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation or endorsement of the registrant's website, which was evidence of bad faith.

03 February 2016

In a recent decision the Haifa District Court dismissed a claim of design infringement absent novelty and originality of a profile design and cancelled the design.

03 February 2016

Walt Disney has supplanted Lego as the world’s most powerful brand, according to the Brand Finance Global 500 2016. Acquisition activity has played a key role, with Marvel and Lucasfilm properties propelling the Walt Disney brand up the brand strength league table.

01 February 2016

A recent Court of Appeal decision brings to light the issue of whether a higher burden of proof is required to establish a likelihood of confusion in a claim to invalidate an existing trademark, in comparison to opposing a trademark for which registration is sought.

26 January 2016

In the latest development of the long-running dispute over Nestlé's efforts to secure trademark registration for the 'four-finger' Kit Kat shape, the High Court of England and Wales has dismissed the company’s appeal against a UK Intellectual Property Office finding that the mark is devoid of inherent distinctive character and has not acquired such character through use.

20 January 2016