All Articles in Brands
Court summit for Kilnworx climbing centre brand
The botched commissioning of a design agency to create a logo led to a dispute. Equitable ownership of the IP rights turned out to be potentially vital. Legal assignee Atelier Eighty Two was the claimant, but who won? Chloe Deng reports.
Passing off saves Sofa Workshop and Ukulele Orchestra brands
The tort of passing off recently rode to the rescue of two UK brands whose fight against alleged interlopers looked cooked when their trade mark registrations were held invalid. Astrid Bulmer and Stephen Groom report
“First choice” claim challenged
Join the first choice for single travellers,” said a flyer and brochure for holiday company Solitair. Small print said the claim was “for trade mark purposes” and “did not imply to any sales or revenue.” What did it all mean? Fiona Schneider reports on the ensuing ASA case.
Did Teekanne tea label with correct ingredients list still mislead on content?
“Felix raspberry and vanilla adventure” tea packs with “natural flavourings” and “raspberry and vanilla taste” and raspberry and vanilla pod artwork contained neither. Did the ingredients list save the day after German consumers sued? Mark Nathan and Stephen Groom report
Health &beauty brand tussle pits Giovanni against Giovanni Galli
The EU General Court recently considered a claim by US-based Giovanni Cosmetics, Inc that its “GIOVANNI” CTM should prevent the registration of “GIOVANNI GALLI” for the same goods by Vasconcelos & Goncalves SA of Spain. Varuni Paranavitane reports.
EU trade mark law reforms on the horizon
EU Ministers have published the final compromise text of the amended Trade Marks Directive. With formal adoption expected in early 2016 what are the key changes European brand owners can expect by the likely 2019 transposition deadline? Abby Minns reports
Global brands Asos and Scrabble in court
The Court of Appeal has recently considered cases involving major brands Asos and Scrabble pitted Assos and Scramble respectively. Did one letter make that much difference? Varuni Paranavitane reports.
“Here” registration fails to stop “Here’s great.com”
Here Global BV, navigation, mapping and location technology specialists, used their registration of HERE for advertising services to oppose registration by Here’s Great Ltd of “Heres Great.com” for eatery recommendations. Varuni Paranavitane reports the outcome.
New “.sucks” gTLD registry opening soon
One of the numerous new gTLDs recently approved by ICANN has been “.sucks” With its registry due to open before 2016, the clock is already ticking, with 1 June 2015 seeing the close of the sunrise period.Vicki Hawkins reports.
Volvo vs Revolvo
Since 1972 Revolvo Ltd had sold “Revolvo” bearings components. In 2010 its group applied to register REVOLVO as a UK trade mark. Volvo opposed based on their VOLVO registrations. Varuni Paranavitane reports.
SUPREME trade mark registration valid but does not stop competitor naming products “Supreme”
Supreme Petfoods sued Henry Bell for trade mark infringement over its use of the mark “Supreme” for petfood. Supreme’s registration was valid and the marks were identical; surely this must have been an infringement? Apparently not: Rob Guthrie reports
