Category Archive for: ‘Trade marks’
MUSASHI v A-SASHI – healthy competition?
The appeal from the Federal Circuit Court of Australia in Christian v Société Des Produits Nestlé SA (No 2) [2015] FCAFC 153 concerning infringement of Nestlé’s MUSASHI marks raises interesting questions regarding the nature and scope of relief for trade mark infringement.
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5SOS, Hush Puppies, Cristal, CCs, Guru Denim and much much more – trade mark case law in Australia, New Zealand and the UK – 2015 highlights
Well, what a year it has been, with so much more in store for 2016. Here at IP Whiteboard we thought we would run a highlights reel of some key trade mark decisions reported on “arguably the world’s favourite IP blog” during 2015.
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Poor man’s CRISTAL, CRISTALINO, found to infringe – the distinct relevance of reputation in assessing the likelihood of confusion in the UK and Australia?
In a recent decision from Mrs Justice Rose, the famous champagne house Roederer has successfully sued J Garcia Carrion SA (JGC) for trade mark infringement. JGC’s use of CRISTALINO in respect of cava infringed Roederer’s registered mark CRISTAL. The outcome seems straightforward enough (though it is worth noting for completeness that the defendants were not represented at trial). The infringement …
Read MoreCrocodile attacks in New Zealand – Lacoste death rolls Crocodile International again
New Zealand may have beaten France in the Rugby World Cup quarter finals, but one French sporting icon is winning a strategic branding war in New Zealand. For the third time in four years, the High Court of New Zealand has overturned the decision of the Assistant Commissioner of IPONZ and acknowledged the breadth of Lacoste’s trade mark rights in …
Read MoreProductivity Commission releases roadmap for IP review and calls for submissions
Last week, the Productivity Commission released the Issues Paper in accordance with its comprehensive review of Australia’s IP regime (Inquiry). In a previous post, we outlined the scope of the Inquiry and the key areas of the IP regime which the Federal Government had directed the Commission to examine and report on by August 2016. The Issues Paper sets out …
Read MoreMalt trade mark teasers – the lighter way to enjoy chocolate
The Federal Court of Australia has allowed Delfi Chocolate Manufacturing S.A.’s appeal of the opposition to its MALTITOS trade mark application by Mars Australia Pty Ltd. The MALTITOS trade mark was filed by Delfi Chocolate in Class 30 for ‘Confectionery; biscuits; chocolate; cocoa; products made from or including chocolate and/or cocoa’. Mars successfully opposed the application in December before the …
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Can you perceive it? Breakthrough for Nestle 4 finger shape mark – CJEU speaks on test for acquired distinctiveness
Study trade mark law, they said. It will be easy, they said … Don’t you believe it. We go on about it all the time here at IP Whiteboard: trade mark law is incredibly nuanced. A recent example of this is the decision from Europe’s highest court (the CJEU) relating to our beloved Kit Kat 4-finger shape mark (shown below). …
Read MoreBe careful if you wanna GUCCI GUCCI, ya ya, da da…
At IP Whiteboard, we love our brands – especially our luxury fashion brands (see our post on Louboutin here). Back in 2013, we reported on the battle of the brands, Guccio Gucci SpA (“Gucci”) and Guess Inc (“Guess”) (see our post here). To refresh your memory, Gucci and Guess have been battling it out over their trade marks all over …
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