In: The IPKat BLOG
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/general-court-conceptual-identity-in.html The EU has 24 official languages and there is a significant number of people who speak further languages like Russian. This raises the question if signs are confusingly similar where one is the translation of the other. In a recent judgment, the General Court dealt with trade marks sharing... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/morleys-is-average-consumer-tired.html Copilot (prompt as Alt Text in image) In a judgment handed down, appropriately, on Friday last week, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by various proprietors of fast food outlets against a finding that they had infringed the trade mark rights of another, more famous, fast food franchise.... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/game-of-thrones-disqualifies-game-of.html A few days ago, the Opposition Division of the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) issued a decision concerning the reputation of the trade mark “GAME OF THRONES”, owned by Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO), and whether the registration of “GAME OF DÖNER” should be refused under Article 8(5) of... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/eu-moves-one-step-closer-to-gene.html In a vote earlier today, the EU reached an important milestone on the road to a new regulation for new genomic techniques (NGT) for plants. After some changes to the EU Parliament’s proposed “patent ban”, the member states’ representatives endorsed the Council’s negotiating mandate. The Polish Presidency can now start negotiations with... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/late-night-babek-uk-court-upholds.html The UK’s Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) has declined an attempt by a defendant (Iceland Foods) to invalidate a trade mark owned by the claimant (Babek) in an application for summary judgment. The judgment carefully considers some of the issues around how trade marks are described and presented on... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-upcs-approach-to-added-matter-and.html The recent decision in Abbott v Sibio Technology (UPC_CoA_382/2024) offers valuable insights into the UPC’s approach to the interpretation of functional claim language and the ever-contentious topic of added matter. On both issues, the UPC broadly appears to have followed the EPO approach. However, the lack of any explicit indication... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/one-trade-mark-to-rule-them-all-lord-of.html Normally a decision of a delegate of the Australian Trade Marks Registrar wouldn’t attract much attention from the IPKat. But the subject matter of this decision has piqued some international interest: last week, an Australian fast food business successfully defended itself against an opposition brought by the owners of... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/never-too-late-if-you-missed-ipkat-last_74.html Another eventful week in the IP world has passed—here’s what to keep in mind! A Kat awaiting weekly IP updates Designs Katfriend Henning Hartwig reviewed the interpretation of Articles 6 and 14 of Regulation 6/2002 (“CDR”). The Committee for Design Law of the German Association for Intellectual Property Law has recently... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/beyond-process-securing-ip-protection.html Cell therapy represents one of the most exciting fields of innovation, with the potential to provide long-term cures for previously incurable diseases. However, unlike traditional pharmaceuticals, these “living medicines” present unique IP challenges that can make or break a biotech’s future. Whilst conventional pharmaceuticals benefit from straightforward composition of... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG
http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/birkenstocks-sandals-are-not.html Birkenstock has tried to protect and enforce its iconic sandal design using almost all intellectual property rights available. Their trade marks for the sole pattern design were cancelled because they lacked distinctiveness (General Court, case T-365/20 and T-579/14). Registered Community Designs were declared invalid because of prior art (e.g.... Continue reading
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