Search results for

With the new Regulation on Community designs, the path towards a unified system for protecting designs in Europe is clear. But it is still not easy, as Henning Hartwig of Bardehle Pagenberg reports

James Nurton, Chicago

Emma Barraclough, Hong Kong

The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) has been the official European Union authority carrying out the procedures for Community trade marks since 1996 and for the registered Community design since 2003. Mark Kennedy of OHIM provides an update on its activities

James Nurton, London

Stéphanie Bodoni, London

When planning the introduction of a recognized foreign brand to the US marketplace, owners of a well-known trade mark outside of the US may find that an American company has attempted to take advantage of the renown of the foreign mark by making an earlier trade mark filing in the USPTO.

IACC Conference, Toronto, Canada, May 3–5.

As a general rule in the UAE, there is no synchronization between the Economic Department and/or the Municipalities (which regulate the grant of trade licences and approval of trade names in the different Emirates) and the Trade Mark Registry in terms of clearing the trade names against the Trade Marks Registry's database prior to granting approvals. As a result, trade marks often compete with company names as identifiers of the origin of goods and services. A common belief is that these signs confirm similar rights to the owner or registrant.

The Swedish Supreme Court has recently (February 1 2006) delivered a judgment in an interesting trade mark case, which concerns how and when a registered trade mark can be cancelled for non-use, and in particular the date from which the period of non-use of a trade mark must be calculated.