Design patent abuse in Ukraine: importers call for legislative reform
In recent years it has become common in Ukraine to register design patents for everyday objects like toothpicks, batteries and hinges. This is a way of levying royalties on imports since design patents are recorded in the customs register of IP rights and retailers must then pay between US$ 100 and 500 per container if they want to import them. While some importers refuse to pay the royalties and start court proceedings to invalidate the design patents, others just pay up because it's cheaper.
Read more: http://www.marques.org/class99/Default.asp?XID=BHA646
Louis Vuitton in General Court: fashion faux pas?
In Cases T-359/12 and T-360/12, on 28 September 2009 Nanu-Nana& Co. KG – not unknown to GC cases (see here)- challenged not one, but two CTM registrations of Louis Vuitton Malletier (LV) registered for Class18 goods, including “boxes of leather or imitations of leather, trunks and travelling bags, travelling sets (leather goods), travel bags, vanity cases (not fitted), shoulder bags, briefcases (leather goods), etc” reproduced here
Read more: http://www.marques.org/class46/Default.asp?XID=BHA4067
Portugal: Kit Kat shape trade mark limitations
Imperial – Produtos Alimentares, S.A. (IMPERIAL), a Portuguese chocolate manufacturer, sought to register as a three-dimensional Portuguese trade mark the sign displayed bellow covering various chocolate goods in Class 30:
(Unsurprisingly) Société des Produits Nestlé S.A. (NESTLÉ), the producer of the chocolate-covered wafer biscuit bar Kit Kat and owner of the International Trade Mark 804396 (picture bellow) opposed the application. Despite the opposition, INPI, the Portuguese Industrial Property office, granted the trade mark registration, as it did not find a likelihood of confusion between the signs.
Read more: http://www.marques.org/class46/Default.asp?XID=BHA4060
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Issue 052
MARQUES has provisionally welcomed the agreement announced by the European Parliament, Council and Commission on trade mark reform, which incorporates many changes that MARQUES and other users associations had called for, and looks forward to examining the agreed texts in detail when they are available
For this month’s interview, James Nurton spoke to David Goldring, MARQUES Treasurer and one of the founders of the association
Design patent abuse in Ukraine, Louis Vuitton in the General Court and a Kit Kat case in Portugal are among the issues discussed on the MARQUES IP blogs in the past month
WIPO is hosting a Madrid System Users’ Meeting on Sunday 3rd May during the 137th INTA Annual Meeting in San Diego
OHIM will be demonstrating its global trade mark and design tools and solutions, such as TMview, TM class and the Enforcement Database at the INTA Annual Meeting in San Diego