ISMS owns the Auchan supermarket brand and operates over 2000 “Simply Market” stores in France and beyond. It claimed M&S infringed its trade mark by sales in France of “Simply M&S” products. Vincent le Bars of Osborne Clarke Paris reports.
Businessman Graham Jules did not roll over when the world’s leading superhero comic publishers threatened to sue over the title of his self-help manual “Business zero to superhero.” Kate Robinson reports on the gripping denouncement.
“Grenade Energy Ltd (“GEL”) was the registered company name of the drinks business sued by competitor IPEC Grenade UK. IPEC had “Grenade” trade mark registrations. Could the sole shareholder and director be personally liable? Thomas Spanyol reports.
Following an A$300,000 penalty on Derodi Pty and Holland Farms Pty and an order to publish corrective advertising, there is a new Australian national standard definition of “free range egg.” Can a UK court order corrective advertising in similar cases? Chloe Deng reports.
“Technosport are the BMW and Mini specialist garage for servicing & maintenance in London” says the search engine result. How much use can a non-authorised garage make of car brands? Kate Robinson reports the judgement in BMW vs Technosport.
Did channels “That’s Solent” (local TV) and “Flava” (music) breach “undue prominence” rules for brand references in editorial? Barney Sich reports on Ofcom’s investigations and the outcomes.
ECJ limits Daimler AG’s trade mark rights against Budapest dealer Egyud Garage became a former authorised Mercedes Benz dealer. Egyud took steps to stop unauthorised online ads that continued to claim this. Daimler wasn’t satisfied and sued. How far was Egyud obliged to go? Stephen Groom reports.
Deuter Sport GmbH sought to stop its distributors selling Deuter products on online marketplaces such as Amazon and, unless Deuter consented in each case, on price comparison platforms. Were these controls sustainable under EU competition law? Tobias Rothkegel reports.
The theoretical ability of brand owners to secure virtual monopoly rights in the shape of their products by trade mark registration is not in doubt, but success is by no means assured as two recent cases show. Barney Sich reports.
With the Rio Olympics now less than seven months away, the IOC has published “Social and Digital Media Guidelines for persons accredited to the Games of the XXXI Olympiad Rio 2016.” Nick Johnson reports.
“14 Laundry Fails we’ve all experienced” was the headline, then appeared “Brand Publisher” and a Dylon logo, but the style was of a BuzzFeed editorial. Was the ad obviously identifiable as such? Stephen Groom reports on the ASA decision.
