EU Trade Mark Law - Recent Case Law Developments

Introduction

EU trade mark law continues to develop through decisions from the Court of Justice, General Court and EUIPO Boards of Appeal, with recent cases providing important guidance on issues ranging from registrability and unconventional marks to reputation, enforcement and the validity of earlier rights.

This practical webinar provides a focused round-up of recent key EU trade mark decisions and considers what they mean for practitioners. Rather than simply reviewing the latest case law, the webinar will explore how these decisions should inform day-to-day trade mark strategy, including clearance, filing, opposition, invalidity and enforcement.

What You Will Learn

The webinar will cover the following:

• Inter IKEA Systems BV v Algemeen Vlaams Belang VZW - consideration of when the owner of a trade mark with a reputation can prevent its use by a political party, including the potential relevance of freedom of expression
• Olymp Bezner KG v EUIPO - the General Court’s decision concerning the registrability of colour-stripe combinations as a colour mark per se and as a figurative mark
• Animal Farm and 1984 - the Grand Board’s decisions concerning applications to register ‘ANIMAL FARM’ and ‘1984’ as EUTMs, and the extent to which signs derived from famous literary works may function as indicators of commercial origin
• Les Éditions Albert René v EUIPO - guidance from the General Court on trade marks derived from fictional characters, particularly in relation to reputation and consumer perception
• EUIPO v Nowhere - confirmation that earlier rights relied upon in opposition and invalidity proceedings must continue to exist when EUIPO reaches its decision