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TUESDAY, 23 FEBRUARY 2010
No strange aroma, but will LONGKOU FEN SI pass the test?
 The Official Journal of the European Union has published an application pursuant to Article 6(2) of Council Regulation 510/2006 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs to register the term LONGKOU FEN SI as a Protected Geographical Indication for Chinese pasta. According to the specification
"Longkou Fen Si is a threadlike dry starch product made from green beans and peas.
In appearance, Longkou Fen Si is white and translucent; every single piece is of the same thickness (with no doubling or broken pieces); it is soft and elastic; it tastes pure and does not have a strange aroma and it has no impurity apparent to naked eye. Its most typical characteristic is its ability to endure boiling temperatures without any gelatinisation. Even after being boiled for one hour, pieces will still not stick to each other and there will be no gelatinisation and no/few broken pieces".
Class 46 wonders what value may be placed on descriptions such as " it tastes pure and does not have a strange aroma and it has no impurity apparent to naked eye", which are not easily susceptible of objective proof.
Posted by: Jeremy Phillips @ 21.38
Tags: PGIs, |
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TUESDAY, 23 FEBRUARY 2010
CEIPI response on the Lisbon Agreement now published
 The Centre d'Etudes Internationales de la Propriété Intellectuelle (Strasbourg), better known by its acronym CEIPI, has has this month published its Réponse du CEIPI dans le cadre de l’enquête de l’OMPI sur l’Arrangement de Lisbonne concernant la protection des appellations d’origine et leur enregistrement international ("CEIPI Answer to the Survey of the WIPO on the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration").
This 17-page report by notable scholars Christophe Geiger, Daniel Gervais, Norbert Olszak, Vincent Ruzek is at present available only in French (here). It will in due course be made available in English too.
Posted by: Jeremy Phillips @ 05.50
Tags: Lisbon Agreement, Protection of Appellations of Origin, |
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MONDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2010
Reader's Digest European Trusted Brands 2010
 Reader's Digest magazine published the results of its annual "European Trusted Brands" survey. The winners for Germany are (for some of the 30+ product categories surveyed):
- Cars: Volkswagen (in brackets the corresponding winner for Switzerland: Volkswagen)
- Banks: Sparkasse (Raiffeisen)
- Clothing: C&A (Charles Vögele)
- Computer: Fujitsu Siemens (Dell)
- Cosmetics: Yves Rocher (Nivea)
- Perfumes: Yves Rocher ( )
- Soft drinks: Coca-Cola ( )
- Household appliances: Miele (Miele)
- Skin care: Nivea (Nivea)
- Internet: T-Online ( )
- Coffee: Tchibo (Nespresso)
- Mobile communication: Vodafone (Swisscom)
- Mobile phones: Nokia (Nokia)
- Food: Maggi ( )
- Insurance: Allianz ( )
- Dental care: Odol (Elmex)
NIVEA is the only brand that topped its category in all 16 countries surveyed. Here are the other brands that were successful in several countries:
Canon, Nokia, Visa: 14 countries
Kellogg’s: 10 countries
Ariel, Hewlett Packard bzw. HP Compaq: 7 countries
Miele: 6 countries
Nestlé, Dell: 4 countries
Aspirin, Avon, Bosch, Centrum, L’Oréal (hair care), Opel, Orange, Pantene, Persil, Toyota, Volkswagen: 3 countries
I find it actually quite interesting that the results are so different even for (relatively) similar countries such as Germany and Switzerland. Even in the age of Globalization, many brands are national.
Further results will be published beginning of March on www.rdtrustedbrands.com.
Posted by: Mark Schweizer @ 13.45
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MONDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2010
"Easter bunnies' case" back at the Austrian court of first instance
 Our readers will recall the ECJ's judgment in Case C‑529/07 (see our report here), Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG v Franz Hauswirth GmbH, also known as the "Easter bunnies' case", which was a reference for a preliminary ruling from Austria on the question of how to establish bad faith in trade mark invalidity proceedings. By way of reminder, in case C‑529/07 the ECJ had held the following:
"In order to determine whether the applicant is acting in bad faith within the meaning of Article 51(1)(b) of Council Regulation ... 40/94 ..., the national court must take into consideration all the relevant factors specific to the particular case which pertained at the time of filing the application for registration of the sign as a Community trade mark, in particular:
– the fact that the applicant knows or must know that a third party is using, in at least one Member State, an identical or similar sign for an identical or similar product capable of being  confused with the sign for which registration is sought;
– the applicant’s intention to prevent that third party from continuing to use such a sign; and
– the degree of legal protection enjoyed by the third party’s sign and by the sign for which registration is sought".
The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) has recently reported on the progress of this case, now that is back at the court of first instance, the Handelsgericht. Harald Schmidt, one of the lawyers acting for Hauswirth, is cited by the ORF as having said that the Austrian first instance court has now requested that Lindt provide evidence showing how well known the Lindt bunnies were in Germany in the year 2000 (this appears to relate to point three above: "degree of legal protection enjoyed"). Unfortunately the report does not provide any information as to how Lindt might be able to provide this information, so this member of Class 46 expects that an old survey (if conveniently available) will have to be used, which either dates from 2000 or at least allows to draw conclusions as to how well the bunnies were known to the relevant consumers in 2000. It is somehow not much of a surprise that Mr Schmidt does not expect a decision in this case before 2012 - this would be 12 years (!) after this dispute started.
Reading the readers comments left on the ORF website, this Class 46 member noticed that one cynical reader wondered whether this whole case was nothing more than a joint marketing plot by Lindt and Hauswirth to keep their little bunnies in the news. Nice idea, but would they really do that for 12 years….?
Posted by: Birgit Clark @ 12.23
Tags: ecj, austria, bunnies, bad faith, |
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MONDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2010
Spanish Patents and Trade marks Office (SPTO) goes totally online.
In an attempt to reduce the bureocratic burden on users, the SPTO has recently enforced the Spanish Act no. 11/2007 on "online access for citizens to public services", providing alternatives to the use of paper.
The SPTO has made available online procedures not only referred for the e-filing of applications (in those cases a reduction of 15% in the official tax is applied) but also for the most frequent steps before the Office: oppositions, answers to the oppositions, renewals, appeals, assignment and licence recordations, issuance of certifications or amendments in the entered owner's name or direction.
If these measures help to reduce terms and save some trees, this Class 46 member will be happy.
Posted by: Ignacio Marques @ 09.37
Tags: Spain, Spanish Patents and Trade Marks Office., |
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MONDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2010
Don't say "pure" for pasturized milk, says Greek Communication Review Board
The Greek Communication Review Board recently dealt with a tv and radio advertisement regarding milk. The company involved, a milk producer from Rodopi in northeastern Greece, used in their communication for their milk the phrase "... includes the purity of nature and nothing else". As the milk was pasterized, the GCRB asked them to amend the advertisement ruling that it created the false impression that the milk was fresh. The GCRB also asked the company not to use the phrase "from the finest milk producers in Rodopi", as it found no evidence that the company uses a particular system or method of evaluating the producers with which it cooperates. The decision is in Greek here. And a Google search for pics of the beautiful Rodopi is here.
Posted by: Nikos Prentoulis @ 06.35
Tags: Greece, Greek Communication Review Board, advertisement, communication, milk, Rodopi, |
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FRIDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2010
Just what is MARQUES doing? Part II
Continuing the reports by MARQUES Teams (on which please see the previous post):
- Next to report was the Programming Team, which described its role in composing programmes and identifying speakers for the organisation's many events. The theme for MARQUES' September meeting, Berlin is to be "MARQUES Reloaded", which sounds quite mysterious! The 2011 September Meeting is scheduled for Baveno, Italy -- where the theme is "Future Shock".
- The Protocol in South America (PISA) Team then gave a vivid account of legislative progress towards adoption of the Madrid Protocol in one of the world's most promising areas for further economic growth.
- Good news emerged from the Promotion and Membership Team: last year the organisation's membership stood at 609, despite the recession. Plans are afoot for attracting more corporate members, as well as for making a compelling case for getting more corporate members involved.
- The Publications and Website Team announced a wide array of technical facilities currently offered or being monitored by the organisation, include WAP push, streaming, webinars, webcasts, polling and blogging as well as teleconferencing: just ask MARQUES and see what it can do for you.
- The Regulatory Team -- one of MARQUES' smallest and youngest -- was pleased to say that it has gained some fresh recruits (all the teams need volunteers: if you'd like to participate in one, do let MARQUES know). Product placement is the team's next big project, taking a multi-jurisdictional approach and looking beyond Europe to Brazil, India and other leading film-making countries.
- The Trade Mark Law and Practice Team watches the activities of the relevant WIPO Standing Committees, OHIM (on Class Headings and relations with national offices). The team applauds OHIM's efforts to accelerate opposition proceedings, as do we all.
- At the tail of the alphabetical list, the Unfair Competition Team spoke of its 113-page report on the Protection and Infringement of Look-Alikes, the results of its survey (currently available to members only). There are also plans to produce a second annex to it "Who's Behind the Mask?", discussing latest Court of Appeal for the European Union and General Court decisions with relevance to lookalikes. A panel at the Berlin Conference, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", will foster further discussion of the topic.
Remember: MARQUES can only achieve what its members, and in particular its Team members, can do for it. Your involvement is vital!
Posted by: Jeremy Phillips @ 12.08
Tags: MARQUES activities, |
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