Europe

In the future, it will be more difficult to obtain an injunction for patent infringement through preliminary injunction proceedings.

A trademark application for Class 41 was filed under No 2018735958 with a priority date of August 20 2018.

The owner of the trademarks "Miss Austria", "Miss Oberösterreich" (Miss Upper Austria) and further Miss-marks granted a licence to the defendant to use these marks for five years. These trademarks – as one can guess – are registered for an organisation handling beauty contests and the elections of the most beautiful women in an area. The contract contains a clause that allows immediate cancellation of the licence if there is violation by the licensee of any contractual duty. It also prohibits competition by the licensee in this field outside the licence and the use of similar trademarks to those licensed.

European regulations provide the possibility for works of applied art to benefit from both design right protection and copyright protection (for artistic work). Each form of protection is subject to its own specific rules. The scope and conditions of protection by copyright are subject to national rules.

An inventor invented a system for drainage of walls. He was managing director for several years of a group of firms (the ATG-Group), the business of which was the application of that system. The plaintiff is the Austrian firm of the ATG-Group.

The market for certain spare parts used for motor vehicle repair may be liberalised in France.