March 22nd, 2010
The global recession has had a negative impact on international trademark filing under the Madrid system, a press release from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) reports. International trademark filing for 2009 was down 16% on the previous year. International trademark registration was also down, by 12% on the previous year.
This is to be expected in a downturn. Trademark registration is of course linked to business activity. For example, parties would generally look to acquire exclusive rights to use a brand name when launching a new business, expanding into a new product line or entering a new market. All of these activities are naturally going to be affected when companies internationally are facing difficulties with finance and a reduction in consumer demand. Read the rest of this entry »
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March 17th, 2010
The UK Intellectual Property Office has published a consultation paper seeking views on proposed changes to the Trade Mark Rules 2008. It is concerned that two of the procedures currently provided for by the Trade Mark Rules are no longer in tune with the needs of business.
This is mainly due to the fact that the procedures, which have been available for some time, have had a fairly limited uptake. Bearing in mind that the Intellectual Property Office is in the process of upgrading its information technology infrastructure, it would be possible to obtain cost savings whilst doing so if the facility to carry out these procedures does not have to be built-in. It is hoped that the responses to the consultation paper will aid the Intellectual Property Office in deciding whether or not to remove these facilities. Read the rest of this entry »
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March 1st, 2010
Lancôme parfums et beauté & Cie SNC v OHIM (2010) Case C-408/08 P
This was a final appeal before the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ). The Appellant sought to overturn a decision by OHIM (the EU body responsible for the administration of trade marks) to revoke its Community Trade Mark registration for COLOR EDITION in respect of Class 3 (cosmetic and make-up preparations). The revocation was based on the following provision of EU law, which prohibits the registration of:
‘… trade marks which consist exclusively of signs or indications which may serve, in trade, to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin or the time of production of the goods or of rendering of the service, or other characteristics of the goods or service.’
The trade mark COLOR EDITION had been found to be exclusively composed of words describing the characteristics of the goods for sale. Without more, such a device cannot function as a trade mark (an indicator of the business responsible for the good or service in question). Read the rest of this entry »
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March 1st, 2010
The UK Intellectual Property Office has produced an easy to digest introduction to patents, designs, trade marks, copyright and designs.
It provides an explanation of the economic importance of intellectual property and the ways in which it can be exploited for a profit, or used to protect the position of a business in the marketplace.
The trademark section includes a basic overview of the purposes underlying this right and outlines the registration process. The ‘At a Glance’ feature allows easy comparison with the protection afforded by other intellectual property rights.
A feature that may be of particular interest to individuals or owners of a Small or Medium sized business is the ‘IP Healthcheck.’ This can be accessed at no cost online and allows you to identify the aspects of your business which may require protection through intellectual property. Read the rest of this entry »
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February 26th, 2010
Hotel Cipriani Srl v Cipriani (Grosvenor Street) Ltd [2010] EWCA Civ 110
This hearing took place in the UK Court of Appeal.
The Appellant was seeking to overturn a finding that it had infringed the UK and Community Trade Mark rights of the Respondent in the word CIPRIANI, and was guilty of passing-off in respect of the same name.
The word was registered in respect of goods and services including hotels, restaurants, bars and catering. It was obtained by the Respondent after it had purchased a hotel business of international reputation in Italy.
The Appellant was run by a member of the Cipriani family in Italy that had originally sold the hotel business to the Respondent. It operated a restaurant in London under the names CIPRIANI LONDON and CIPRIANI. Read the rest of this entry »
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February 24th, 2010
Introduction
Trademark protection allows the owner of a distinctive device (such as a word, logo or slogan) to obtain the exclusive right to use that mark in the sale of goods or services.
A carefully selected and managed trademark can become a valuable business asset. As customers learn to value and trust a trade mark, they may be willing to pay more for a product or service bearing that mark. This enables a business owning a quality trademark to stand out in the marketplace and gain a competitive edge. This is particularly likely where the consumer has become enamoured with the quality of its produce. A just reward for producing a quality product, and for carefully marketing it therefore, is the enhanced profitability that comes with being regarded favourably by the public.
Distinctiveness
With registration, it becomes possible to prevent others from using or attempting to register similar or identical trade marks. Indeed, the mere fact of trade mark registration is likely to dissuade other traders from attempting to pass off their goods as being in some way associated with the trademark owner’s business. Where this deterrent effect is not enough, it is of course possible to take legal action against troublesome infringers, to ensure the cessation of their potentially damaging activities. Read the rest of this entry »
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January 25th, 2010
One of the biggest sources of controversy in trademark law at the moment is the use of keywords in Internet advertising. In the last few years, many court cases have been commenced around the world as outraged trademark owners seek to put a stop to what they see as an invisible form of trademark infringement.
The controversy surrounding advertising keywords and registered trademarks
Keyword advertising is most commonly used by search engines to supplement ‘natural’ search results. The way it works is simple. Advertisers pay a fee for their link to appear on the results page when a user searches for certain phrases. So for example, a retailer that sells a popular brand of flowers in their store might like to use the brand of flowers as a trigger for their adverts. This would allow them to inform consumers that the particular brand of flowers is available in-store.
There is currently nothing in the infrastructure of the sponsored links services that search engines offer to stop advertisers selecting trademarks and brand names to act as those triggers, and here lies the problem. A trader could theoretically use a competitor’s more reputable trademark to divert consumers towards their own website, by buying the competitor’s brand as a trigger keyword. Naturally, the trademark owners are less than happy about this, seeing it as an unfair use of their carefully developed goodwill. There is not yet a straightforward legal answer to the question of whether such use is indeed unfair (though there may be soon, at least in Europe). Read the rest of this entry »
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