Court: Court of Justice of the European Union

Famous sports personalities before EU courts: some you win, some you lose

Featured in WTR Special Report Q2 2024: Training your defence: the sports brand playbook

15 July 2024

Thor’s hammer wins Volvo 3D headlights battle

In a dispute over the refusal to register a 3D Volvo mark, the ECJ has held that headlights have become distinguishing features of vehicle brands and models.

08 July 2024

Blow for Société du Tour de France in TOUR DE X opposition

In a “particularly severe” decision, the General Court confirmed that there was no likelihood of confusion between TOUR DE X and the earlier TOUR DE FRANCE marks.

27 June 2024

General Court: Board of Appeal erred in assessing distinctiveness of ULTRA for beer

In this dispute between competing breweries Anheuser-Busch and Amstel, the court found that ‘ultra’ was a generic, laudatory term which was incapable of differentiating the commercial origin of the goods.

26 June 2024

General Court provides primer on scope of review and genuine use

An accumulation of items of evidence may allow the necessary facts to be established, even though each of those items, taken individually, would be insufficient to prove genuine use.

21 June 2024

General Court criticises Board of Appeal’s findings in CHIQUITA QUEEN case

The reputation acquired in the market by a word element in a trademark application may be relevant when assessing the likelihood of confusion with an earlier mark.

17 June 2024

Brussels courts ban rebranding of generic parallel imports

These decisions are the first by national courts to interpret the CJEU’s preliminary ruling in Joined Cases C‑253/20 and C‑254/20.

13 June 2024

Mac Wars: Supermac’s strikes back

The General Court has pared back on the goods and services allowed under the BIG MAC trademark registration in this long-running dispute between McDonald’s and Supermac’s.

11 June 2024

General Court confirms refusal of invalidity application under Article 59(1)(b), despite existence of earlier identical mark

The knowledge of the existence of a prior mark is only one of the factors to be taken into consideration and is not sufficient, on its own, to establish that there was bad faith.

30 May 2024

General Court interprets several general principles of EU law in opposition proceedings

The applicant’s right to be heard had not been infringed since, in particular, he had been able to make his views known before the Board of Appeal before the adoption of its decision.

29 May 2024