CLASS 46
Now in its twelfth year, Class 46 is dedicated to European trade mark law and practice. This weblog is written by a team of enthusiasts who want to spread the word and share their thoughts with others.
Want to receive Class 46 by email?
Click here subscribe for free.
Click here subscribe for free.
Who we all are...
THURSDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2008
Cost-free access to the The Hague District Court for (John) Deers in trade mark matter
Tags: Benelux case law, cautio judicatum solvi, community trade mark, litigation, procedural law,
Sharing on Social Media? Use the link below...
Perm-A-Link: https://www.marques.org/blogs/class46?XID=BHA724
Cost-free access to the The Hague District Court for (John) Deers in trade mark matter
In trade mark infringement proceedings on the merits between US based Deere and Company and Swiss based John Deere Internationl GmbH against Dutch based VR-Products the Distict Court of The Hague (Chr.A.J.F.M. Hensen) decided today that VR-Products was not entitled to demand a security from the Deere plaintiffs for costs of the proceedings and damages: 'The District Court puts first that pursuant to art. 224 par. 1 of the Dutch Code on Civil Procedure a plaintiff who is based in a foreign country is obliged to provide securety for the costs of the proceedings and for a compensation of damages on a claim by the defendant (the defendant needs to do this with an interim action, addition by me, Gino). However, art. 224 par. 2 of the Code provides that this obligation does not exist, if this follows from a Treaty or a EC regulation. According to its articles of association Deere is based in the United States of America. Consequently Deere is exempted from the obligation to provide security according to art. V of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United States of America in conjunction with art. 5 of the Protocol to this Treaty. John Deere is based in Switzerland, thus she can not be imposed with a security in view of art. 45 of the Lugano Treaty. The interim action is therefore denied.'
The case concerns an alleged trade mark infringement by VR-Products on Deere and John Deere's community and benelux trade mark rights with numbers 000332874, 000394460, 000997866, 00430548, 000063289 (CTM) and 0041180, 0041179, 0041178, 0157420 and 0687212 (Benelux). The alleged infringement concerns apparently the parallel trade in mowers originating from non-EU countries.
A small remark to end this posting: although we have to live with international regulations that have crossed out the cautio, it might nevertheless be good to have a keen eye on a plaintiffs financial condition if the costs of the proceedings and damages are to be expected to be of such a level that there is a risk that the plaintiff is not able to a refund, for example if the plaintiff loses a case in appeal or a review at the Dutch Supreme Court. But the means to do this seem hard to find. Risky business therefore since the costs of the proceedings have gone way up due to the new costs regime in the Netherlands.
Posted by: Gino Van Roeyen @ 10.23Tags: Benelux case law, cautio judicatum solvi, community trade mark, litigation, procedural law,
Sharing on Social Media? Use the link below...Perm-A-Link: https://www.marques.org/blogs/class46?XID=BHA724
Reader Comments: 0
Post a Comment
MARQUES does not guarantee the accuracy of the information in this blog. The views are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of MARQUES. Seek professional advice before action on any information included here.
The Class 46 Archive
