Way more than an everyday interest in IP
— An edited version of this article first appeared on IPKat on 12 November 2014 — Some recent decisions – and topical ones at that, with the holiday season imminently approaching for this new father (hi Jack and Willy!) – relating to the treatment of 2D and 3D marks for toys suggest that there might read more…
In El Corte Ingles v Wolverine World Wide, Inc, the much beloved logo of Hush Puppies (hereinafter, hound) has survived a non-use attack in Europe in some key classes. Although WWW was ultimately successful in partially defending the non-use action, the case is a reminder of the much higher burden faced in saving a Community read more…
In Enterprise Holdings, Inc v Europcar Group UK Ltd & Anor [2015] EWHC 17 (Ch) (13 January 2015) we have another tour de force from Arnold J. Clocking in it at 227 paragraphs, the decision relates to Enteprise’s claim for trade mark infringement and passing off by its competitor Europcar through use of its “e-moving read more…
Pockets. Most jeans have them. Many of us look at them in admiration, often because they adorn the backsides of others (though in the age of the selfie it’s probably more common to be checking out our own …). When we look at these pockets, we will commonly know the brand of the jeans without read more…
Branded real estate in the industrial, commercial and residential markets is big business. The brand adopted can influence perception and price. It is no surprise then that developers are increasingly taking steps to protect these brands by registering them as trade marks. We recently discussed some legal developments for these kinds of brands (including shopping read more…
2014 has been a topsy-turvy year so far in the retail and FMCG spaces in terms of trade mark decisions in Australia, New Zealand and the UK and EU. It is worth looking at a few recent decisions to help guide big and not-so-big names with their brand protection strategies. You win some … In read more…
We like to think that we know our readers quite well here at IP Whiteboard. But do we? Really?? Obviously they’re incredibly smart and ridiculously good looking, and have great taste. But what are their thought processes when they’re let loose in the supermarket or bottle-shop? With the aim of getting to know you a read more…
Remember when you could rely on social media for fair, unbiased and objective coverage of the news? Me neither. The facts did not get in the way of a good story when a virtual Twitter-storm erupted over the weekend around the tv show GLEE having to change its name in the UK. But is this read more…
Brand protection is not always as straightforward as it should be. For one thing, even once you have chosen your brand, you need to draft a specification that covers what you do and/or propose to do. This is a simple exercise if you are a t-shirt company, but can be a tricky business for service read more…