Author: Anca Draganescu-Pinawin (Novagraaf) Date of publication: 15/01/2018 How is a trademark, containing or composed solely of Asian characters, assessed in the EU? This question is especially of interest to Asia-based businesses seeking to bring their brands to the EU market, while retaining the corporate identity that they have developed in their
Author: Frouke Hekker (Novagraaf) Date of publication: 31/10/2017 Trademark applications frequently fail due to lack of distinctiveness. However, it is possible to overcome this barrier to registration for marks combining descriptive and/or non-distinctive elements, if the sign as a whole creates an overall distinctive impression, as Novagraaf’s Frouke Hekker explains.
Author: Myrthe Pardoen (Novagraaf) Date of publication: 13/10/2017 As we have written previously, the European Commission published a position paper on IP rights after Brexit in September, setting out its ideas on how it wants to see unitary IP rights handled after Great Britain departs from the EU. But, this wasn’t the only
On 16 May 2017, the General Court handed down its decision in Alfa Wasserman SpA (AW) v EUIPO, Pharma Mar intervening (Case T- 85/15). The decision follows the opposition by Pharma Mar (Pharma), owner of the EU trade mark YONDELIS for pharmaceutical and veterinary products and preparations for use in
The UK government triggered Article 50 on 29 March 2017. However, there is still little clarity on the repercussions of Brexit for European Union trade marks (EUTMs), including the issue of non-use. One practical issue that is likely to arise is the unexpected risk of possible revocation claims. EUTMs are
Based on its European "Combit" trade mark, Combit Software launched an action for infringement against a company regarding the use of the "Commit" sign to designate similar goods and services, and petitioned the German court seized to issue a ban on the use of the sign in dispute throughout the
CJEU and Belgian Supreme Court on the interaction between free movement of goods and trademark rights. On November 7, 2016 the Belgian Supreme Court (Cour de cassation – Hof van cassatie) gave judgment in two cases regarding the repackaging of pharmaceuticals, wherein it ruled in favour of the parallel importer with
Benelux design law is governed by the Benelux Convention on Intellectual Property, the current version of which entered into force on October 1 2013. The Community Design Regulation is the second important piece of legislation for design law in the Benelux countries. As both the convention and the Community Design
On 10 November 2016, the European Union Court of Justice (ECJ) rendered a judgment regarding the "need of repackaging" of pharmaceuticals and the reaffixing of the trade mark by the parallel importer within the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes Norway. A lot of issues have been raised in the field
The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) yet again seems to have raised the bar for the trademark protection of 3D shape marks. In its recent Rubik’s Cube judgement, it has annulled EUIPO’s ruling that confirmed EU trademark (EU TM) protection for the Rubik’s Cube shape. Novagraaf’s Frouke Hekker