Region: Africa & Middle East

The Libyan Trademark Office has resumed limited operations and is accepting new applications from Libyan nationals. However, there is no indication of when it will start accepting applications from non-Libyan trademark owners. It suspended operations last year in order to reorganize and automate its procedures.

12 September 2003

An Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) committee has ordered Kwality Biscuits to withdraw from sale products whose packaging and labelling closely imitate the get-up of equivalents manufactured by National Brands. The committee held that it had jurisdiction to hear the complaint, even though Kwality Biscuits is not a member of the ASA.

09 September 2003

In <i>Mifromal Industries Jerusalem v Klil Industries Ltd</i>, the Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal against a District Court of Tel Aviv decision, which found that the defendant had infringed the plaintiff's registered design for profiles of aluminium windows. In so doing, the Supreme Court clarified the test for establishing infringement of registered designs.

03 September 2003

A South African wine producer has filed trademark infringement actions against local retailers for their use of bottle shapes allegedly similar to its registered flagon shape mark. The complainant will have to prove that its competitors copied the distinctive elements of the bottle as well as fight off their application to cancel the mark for lack of distinctiveness.

28 July 2003

In <i>Shalem Center v Techelet Media Ltd</i>, the District Court for Tel Aviv-Jaffa has issued a preliminary injunction ordering the defendant to make several changes to its slogan despite finding there was no likelihood of confusion with the plaintiff's mark TECHELET (meaning 'azure').

22 July 2003

In <i>Eastman Kodak Company v Conko Ltd</i>, the District Court of Tel Aviv-Jaffa has found the defendant photofinishing shop guilty of passing off for its use of a shade of yellow, similar to that used by the plaintiff in its branding, for envelopes employed to hold the printed photographs developed for customers.

15 July 2003

The Nigerian Trademark Office has refused Budejovicky Budvar's application to register 'Budweiser' as a trademark, chalking up the first reported victory for Anheuser-Busch since the Spanish Provincial Court of Appeals found in its favour over the use of the word 'Budweiser' on bottle labels.

14 July 2003

In <i>Reckitt Benckiser (Pty) Ltd v Unilever SA (Pty) Ltd</i>, the Advertising Industry Tribunal of the Advertising Standards Authority has dismissed Reckitt Benckiser's complaint against three separate companies for their use of the term 'Spring Fresh'. The tribunal held that Spring Fresh is a widely-used generic term that has not become a brand or sub-brand in its own right.

26 June 2003

In a landmark ruling, the High Court has held that the defendant Laugh it off's sale of T-shirts printed with the phrase 'Black Labour - White Guilt' in lettering that matched the plaintiff South African Breweries' BLACK LABEL mark violated the company's trademark rights. The decision has been seen as a serious blow to freedom of expression in South Africa.

28 May 2003

The Supreme Court has overturned a lower court decision that refused Taam Teva (1988) Tivoli's motion for a preliminary injunction against Ambrosia Supherb. The Supreme Court held that Ambrosia Supherb's MEGA REPLEX mark in English script is confusingly similar to Taam Teva's mark in Hebrew characters, transliterating into English as MEGA-GLUFLEX.

15 May 2003