Search results for

Le Cordon Bleu, the famous French culinary school, recently won its appeal to register its name in relation to meat, poultry and game and meat extracts in New Zealand. Its application was rejected by the Intellectual Property Office, and by a hearings officer, because it was said to be a laudatory term that lacked distinctive character. The hearings officer held that "cordon bleu" meant something of high quality, and the addition of the word "le" did not save the application.

An atrial septal defect is a serious heart problem that restricts blood flow between the left and right atria via the interatrial septum. AGA Medical Corporation owns a patent on a medical device that can be applied through a catheter in the patient's heart to close the septum. Occlutech GmbH delivers such devices. In an infringement procedure, the Court of First Instance judged that Occlutech's devices do not comply with the literal wording of AGA's patent, nor are they within the scope of protection when interpreting the claims in accordance with the Protocol for article 69 EPC. In a subsequent appeal, this decision was confirmed.

Mexican IP Law states that industrial companies, traders and service providers may use their marks in commerce, and that the exclusive right to use the marks is obtained through a registration granted by the Mexican Trademark Office.

Regulations pertaining to the voluntary notification of copyright came into force in Malaysia on June 1 2012.

In a recent judgment issued by the Single Member Court of Athens, several issues were addressed regarding design rights, the overall get-up of fitness products and unfair competition.

The bill amending the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957, pending in the Parliament since 2010, has finally been passed. While this bill continues to have several detractors, it was passed unanimously by the Parliament. The President of India has given assent to the bill.

According to Article 53(b) of the European Patent Convention (EPC), plant varieties and essentially biological processes for the production of plants, are exempt from patentability.

The new Patent Marking Measures came into operation on May 1 2012.

An arbitration panel has transferred the domain name remarkable.eu back to the Belgian company Remarkable Europe.

In Austria there is a producer of sweet products famous for its foamy sweets in the shape of a bomb. The outer form of those sweets was denied trade mark protection back in 1976 since their bomb form is technically the best way to produce such sweets out of sweet foam. In 1969 the producer also applied for trade marks for a transparent packaging with specially designed compartments for the individual foamy sweets, one without such sweets and one filled with them, claiming trade mark protection for the specific three-dimensional form. This so-called six pack consists of two rows of three compartments each. The marks were so registered. The producer has since sold five million of such packages per year and has a market share for that type of sweet of 80%.