Features
The French market for trademark services could be set for a radical overhaul in the very near future. Practitioners and brand owners await the developments with interest
For decadesEntrepreneur Magazine has been fightingthe allegations of small businesses, multinationals andaggressive critics that its trademarks are generic andinvalid. The magazine's spat with Ernst & Young sets the stakes higher than ever before. WTR investigates
The Cadbury group has been trying to obtain exclusive rights in a shade of purple for chocolate in Australia since 1998
A decision of the European Court of First Instance notto apply Article 6 ter of the Paris Convention to servicemarks is proving controversial. If upheld on appeal,the decision will open the door to the registration ofnational emblems as part of service marks is proving controversial. If upheld on appeal, the decision will open the door to the registration of national emblems as part of service marks something that is prohibited for trademarks.
The proposed launch of new generic top-leveldomains in 2009 is likely to cause an unprecedentedshake-up to the domain name system. It willinevitably cause a considerable burden on rightsowners who will need to reconsider their onlinestrategies carefully
With its Intel ruling, the ECJ has attempted to clarifydilution law in Europe. However, the decision has beenseen as a blow to the owners of 'superbrands' and appears to favour the common law approach of requiring claimants to prove actual or likely damage
Non-Canadians may obtain a registration in Canada based on a corresponding registration in the country of origin. However, such applicants should be aware that the registration in the country of origin must be accompanied by use
WTR spoke to a number of leading practitioners in France to find out who they rated as the best in the trademark law business. Here are the names that were mentioned most
Country correspondent
Keyword advertising, gripe sites andphishing can all infringe IP rights. Suchactivities generally trigger liability underunfair competition law in Romania andrequire detailed enforcement strategies
As the Internet offers increasingopportunities for wrong-doing to scammers,counterfeiters and other infringers in theonline environment, this article reviewssome of the recourses available and bestpractices for brand owners
China is already home to the highestnumber of internet users in the world.Online trademark infringement is agrowing concern and recent cases suggestthat the onus for policing rights falls onbrand owners.
The liability of online auction websiteoperators and search engines are amongthe most controversial and mostimportant issues in relation to trademarksonline. So far, the Brazilian courts havenot considered either in much detail.
No keyword advertising case has reachedthe Canadian courts yet. However, adecision on ‘use requirements’ andvarious metatags decisions giveindications of how the courts mayapproach keyword advertising cases
Because of the difficulties in identifyingthe perpetrators of many acts of onlineinfringement, IP rights holdersincreasingly turn to internet serviceproviders for redress. However, the Spanishcourts have so far interpreted narrowly theEU provisions on providers’ liability
Due to a lack of legal framework,trademark owners find it difficult toenforce their rights on the Internet – inparticular, on online auction platforms.However, self-regulation codes have beendeveloped in order to tackle this issue
The law relating to online infringementcontinues to develop rapidly in Benelux.Among other things, trademark ownersmust familiarize themselves with thelatest rulings on the liability of internetservice providers
Under the Electronic Commerce Act, aninternet service provider is not liable forthe information that it stores unless it hasactual knowledge of the illicit nature ofsuch information. So far, no courtdecision has addressed the issue of theliability of service providers
The Indian courts have had to address manylegal issues arising from the development ofthe Internet – from passing off to phishing,metatagging and jurisdictional matters
Italian courts are still divided over thecriteria to use to establish jurisdictionover infringement occurring online
Contextual online advertising is bigbusiness in Russia, much of it potentiallyinfringing. A lack of clear law in this areamakes enforcing trademark rightsalmost impossible
Issues once hotly debated, such asmetatagging, have now been settled inGermany. However, new practices, inparticular keyword advertising and theliability of online auction platforms, stillgive rise to conflicting court decisions
Jurisdiction is probably one of the mostimportant legal matters raised since thelaunch of the Internet. A Jerusalem court hasconsidered this issue in detail and has ruled,among other things, that a decision from aforeign court can be enforced in Israel.
Columns
Trademarks are important to the value of an insolvent business. The business may prove more valuable if split and, if so, its trademarks will be divested separately. This may give rise to practical and legal problems
Anti-counterfeiting and piracy operations carried out by INTERPOL in various parts of the world have been extremely successful. The INTERPOL IP Rights Programme became truly global when it was deployed in Africa in 2008
Nearly three years after the rules governing '.cn' domain name disputes were amended, there appears to have been no significant drop in the number of decisions favourable to complainants. Enforcement of these decisions is another matter entirely–
Roundtable
Practitioners from the United States and Europe discuss the trademark issues involved in advertising
News
