Use requirement

Intellectual property law is designed to confer exclusive protections to intangible assets, to be used in compliance with honest commercial practices. In the absence of a statutory definition of what…

  A judgment of the General Court demonstrates the controversial and problematic nature of retail services marks. The ALDI/ALDIANO Case The case concerns Aldi, the discount chain. An Aldi entity (in…

  Vintage brands – generally well-known marks that have been phased out but live on in consumers’ memories – face the challenge that trademarks that are not used are cancelled. The CJEU judgment of…

 London’s weather was very generous to AIPPI participants this year. It was not so hard to get up early and attend the breakfast panel on Genuine Use of trademarks organized by Wolters Kluwer as part…

Amendments to the Czech and Slovak Trademark Acts implementing the EU trademark reform of 2015 have been recently passed by the respective parliaments. The amendments will become effective on 1…

In what has been considered a surprising decision (see for example previous comments in this blog here), the CJEU has recently held that the proprietor of a mark is entitled to oppose a third party…

    This case is about the genuine use of shape marks. M J Quinlan & Associates PTY Ltd. of Australia own a 1999 registration for the shape of a kangaroo. The mark is protected for potato snacks and…

More than four years since major amendments to the Canadian Trademarks Act were passed, the government has signaled that implementation is finally expected in the spring of 2019. These changes are…