• The end of the claim ‘climate neutral’?

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-end-of-claim-climate-neutral.html ‘Do good and talk about it’ is an important principle for companies, which try to reduce the emissions caused by the production of their goods. Doing that in a way that complies with unfair competition rules can be nevertheless challenging, as the decision of the German Supreme Court on... Continue reading

     
  • [UPCKat] UPC Court of Appeal demonstrates (surprising) flexibility in order on appeal timelines

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/08/upckat-upc-court-of-appeal-demonstrates.html The UPC Court of Appealshowing flexibility on thedeadline balance beam The UPKats are closing off what was a hot week in London and an exciting Olympic week in Paris with a recap of another UPC Court of Appeal order.  The order from 26 April 2024 in AIM Sport Development... Continue reading

     
  • [Guest Post] Bad blood is not bad faith in South African trade mark disputes

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/08/guest-post-bad-blood-is-not-bad-faith.html The IPKat has received and is pleased to host the following guest contribution by KatfriendKatfriend Thato Moloto (Trademarkia) on the decision of the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa on whether an applicant for trade mark registration who applies without a bona fide claim to a mark is to... Continue reading

     
  • [Book Review] Intangible Intangibles

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/08/book-review-intangible-intangibles.html This is a review of the book, Intangible Intangibles: Patent Law’s Engagement with Dematerialised Subject Matter, by Professor Brad Sherman (University of Queensland). “Dematerialisation” is a term for the decoupling of subject matter from the physical (such as biological materials used by life scientists) and the shift to the... Continue reading

     
  • 10 IP Books to Pack in Your Summer Totes

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/08/10-ip-books-to-pack-in-your-summer-totes.html Picture this: you’re lounging somewhere in the Mediterranean relaxed and carefree under your beach umbrella. A gentle summer breeze is rustling the pages of the self-improvement book you bought from the corner kiosk, the one that promised to solve all your problems in ten simple steps. But there’s a... Continue reading

     
  • EUIPO says comparing virtual goods to real-life goods like apples and oranges

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/08/euipo-says-comparing-virtual-goods-to.html In a recent decision (No B3199946) on comparing virtual and real-world goods and services for the purposes of oppositions, the Opposition Division of the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) refused to extend a finding of similarity between goods/services in class 35 to the same goods/services when applied to the virtual... Continue reading

     
  • [Guest post] Does ‘ICE LAND’ mislead consumers about the origin of the goods? (Unlike EUIPO) No, says Appeal Board in Uzbekistan

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/07/guest-post-does-ice-land-mislead.html The IPKat has received and is pleased to host the following guest contribution by Katfriends by Khalil Jurayev and Javohir Kurbonov (My lawyer Law Firm) on a recent case concerning a request, lodged by Iceland (the country), to invalidate ‘ICE LAND’ as a trade mark registered in Uzbekistan. Here’s... Continue reading

     
  • WIPO releases Guide to Trade Secrets and Innovation

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/07/wipo-releases-guide-to-trade-secrets.html It might be argued that the most frequently discussed topics in the field of intellectual property are copyright, design law, patents and trade marks. However, other branches of IP are deserving of close attention, one such area being trade secrets. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has just launched... Continue reading

     
  • Revving halt: EUIPO upholds refusal to register Porsche’s accelerating engine sound mark

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/07/revving-halt-euipo-upholds-refusal-to.html   By decision of 20 June 2024 (R 1900/2023, original German version here and English machine translation here), the Board of Appeal (BoA) of EUIPO confirmed the initial refusal (see The IPKat here) to register a sound mark consisting of an accelerating engine noise. The BOA confirmed the lack... Continue reading

     
  • [Book Review] The EU Geo-blocking Regulation: A Commentary

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/07/book-review-eu-geo-blocking-regulation.html This is a review of “The EU Geo-Blocking Regulation: A Commentary” by Marketa Trimble (William S. Boyd School of Law). According to the author, this commentary of the Geo-blocking Regulation is intended to aid lawyers, academics, judges, legislators, and technical experts alike in interpreting and applying the Regulation.  From... Continue reading