Search results for

The OHIM cancellation division recently applied Article 7(1)(d) of the Community Trade Mark Regulation in invalidity proceedings and upheld an interpretation of that provision where a trade mark's registrability is precluded not only in cases where the mark is "exclusively" composed of a sign or an indication that has become customary in the current language or in the bona fide and established practices of the trade, but also where the rest of the elements are not sufficient to counteract the generic character of the "characterising" component of the trade mark concerned.

In Ferrero SpA v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) (March 24 2011), the Court of Justice of the EU (CJ) has upheld the finding of the General Court that the word mark Kinder and the figurative mark TiMi Kinderjoghurt were not similar.

The Court of Justice of the EU has held that a trade mark owner can prohibit an advertiser from using his trade mark as a keyword, without his consent, whenever the advert does not enable an average internet user to ascertain whether the goods or services originate from the trade mark owner or from a third party (Case 236-08/238-08).

As reported in previous briefing articles, the EU's Competitiveness Council reached an agreement on the basic principles of a unitary EU patent and the establishment of a European and European Union Patent Court (EEUPC) in December 2009. However, the EEUPC suffered a major setback by a ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJ) dated March 8 2011, according to which the establishment of the EEUPC would be incompatible with EU law.

The Opinion on Various Issues Relating to the Applicable Laws for Handling Criminal IP Infringement Cases jointly published by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security clarifies certain trade mark issues relating to IP crimes, set out below.

The use of internet publications in legal affairs is surrounded by serious concerns as to their reliability, in particular about their date of availability. Even if an earlier date may be retrieved for a particular internet page, it remains uncertain whether the retrieved page is faithful as to what was actually available at the older date.

Memantine, a drug developed by Merz back in the 1960s, had been on the market in Germany even before September 1 1976, when it was authorised on the basis of Article 3(7) of the AMG 1976 on the basis of transitional arrangements, provided for under the national legislation transposing Directive 65/65, which exempted medicinal products already on the market from the application of the Community authorisation procedure for a period of 12 years. This old German transitional authorisation expired on January 1 1990, although Merz remained on the German market until July 9 2002.

Recent patent changes at the Australian Patent Office have attempted to restrict applicants filing patents for business method patents.

After more than a decade since the regulations of the new Patent Law came into force (which implemented the TRIPs requirements regarding the patentability of pharmaceutical products), it is important to evaluate the impact of this patentability on access to medicaments, and on the public health in general.

In Group LFE v Swartland Winery, the Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa has ruled, in essence, that a trade mark can still be a trade mark even if it is also a descriptive geographical indicator.