Distinctiveness

It does not happen every day that you can see a trademark case decided by the EU General Court with a Polish claimant (EUTM applicant), represented by his Polish attorney, with a Polish judge as the…

The UK Intellectual Property Office has recently declared invalid Birkenstock’s UK trade mark registration for the pattern on the sole of their shoes. The decision of the Appointed Person, James…

Shape mark: form of a drinking bottle lacks distinctiveness in relation to perfumes A recent judgement of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court highlights the strict practice for the registration of…

The Court of Appeal (‘CoA’) recently published its decision on the validity of two shape mark registrations for the shape of London black taxis. Unfortunately, it has not improved the position for…

This case concerns the first appeal from a Hearing Officer of the UK Intellectual Property Office ("UK IPO") to the Scottish Court of Session.   The dispute at issue was between CCHG Limited t/a…

  In the M/S. Indeutsch International case concerning the validity of the “Chevron” device shown      above (T-20/16 of 21 June 2017), the General Court held that the mark (described in the…

    In April, the Oslo District Court partially relied on EUIPO Guidelines in finding that this trade mark is distinctive (judgment of 11. April 2017, case 16-135037TVI-OTIR/07).The mark had been…