K-Swiss, Inc applied in 2013 to register as a Community trade mark for athletic shoes a figurative mark consisting of a five stripe motif. The application was initially refused as devoid of distinctive character but K-Swiss appealed. Sara McDiamond takes up the story.
Mexicans love sugary soda drinks. One soda, Sidral Mundet, contains 60 grams of sugar per 600 gram bottle, but it was the apple content that came to the fore in complaints over Coca Cola’s ads for it. Chloe Dumoulin-Richet reports.
At Osborne Clarke’s 17th “Look Back, Face Forward” marketing law forum on 2 December 2015, Jude King and Stephen Groom made their predictions. Catch their slides here.
The IPO was not impressed by a confusingly named trader sending renewal notices to trade mark and patent owners, demanding more than the IPO’s standard fees. It sued, alleging passing off and trade mark infringement. Varuni Paranavitane reports.
US chain In-N-Out Burger has sued take-out middleman “DoorDash” alleging it is using In-N-Out’s trade marks and selling its food in breach of the chain’s rights. Jamie Heatly reports on a case with interesting implications given the burgeoning takeaway delivery market.
Following a wide review of online advertorials, estimating that online reviews potentially influenced £23bn of consumer spending a year, the CMA is now investigating selective publication of reviews and lack of transparency around those that are published. Ben Poole reports.
Budget airline Ryanair has called on Google to take more action to protect consumers from “lookalike” screenscraper sites. eDreams is one of the sites Ryanair has named, but eDreams denies any wrongdoing. Thomas Spanyol reports.
The Government has reported on whether brand owners should be able to take direct action against lookalike products under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Has this pleased anti lookalike lobbyist the British Brands Group? Barney Sich reports.
Champagne producer Louis Roederer registered CRISTAL as a trade mark. It unsuccessfully opposed UK registration of CRISTALINO JAUME SERRA by sparkling wine maker J Garcia Carrion SA. Could it still stop importation of CRISTALINO into the UK? Varuna Paranavitane reports.
Piqued by Nestlé’s blocking of its purple colour trade mark application, Cadbury challenged the Kit Kat owner’s attempt to register the shape of its four bar product. Who won in the recent CJEU judgment? Opinions differ but Varuni Paranavitane reports.
Retail chain Cora had used “Large volumes= low prices” as an advertising slogan for 25 years. Could it stop competitor Auchan using “mini prices for large volumes” in its catalogues? Claire Bouchenard of Osborne Clarke Paris reports.
Not all the 50 footballers in advertising for Nike’s training program alongside the phrase “Improve your game with Nikefootball+” on a shoebox were sponsored by Nike. Some used shoes by Adidas, who sued. Stephan Bahner of OC Cologne reports.
