UK judge attacks EU trade mark law
01 June 2010
James Nurton, London
European trade mark law is “very, very confused” and “it’s getting worse” according to Lord Justice Jacob, the leading IP-specialist judge in the UK, who is interviewed in Managing IP’s June issue
In the interview – one of 12 published to mark the magazine’s 200th issue – Jacob says: “European trade mark law is very, very confused. The legislation is not good – there was little consultation about it.”
He explains that European trade mark law did not clarify basic issues such as trade mark use and infringement, and comparative advertising: “Everything went into the melting pot. Industry has had to pay and continues to pay for it and the courts are too.”
He adds that Europe’s top court has failed to bring clarity to disputed questions: “I don’t think the Court of Justice of the EU is a good commercial court. Its work on other subjects, such as VAT, is much better and its constitutional or quasi-constitutional decisions are vital for the very being of the EU. But most members of the ECJ have not...
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