Five things you need to know – Europe
European Union
The European Commission has entered ‘Havarti’, a cheese produced in Denmark, onto the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications. In reaching its decision, the commission weighed up opposition from a number of countries and dairy associations. Among the complaints were claims that Havarti does not possess a specific quality, reputation or other characteristics attributable to the geographical origin. In addition, it was argued that registration would jeopardise the existence of identical names, marks and produce that have been legally on the market for at least five years. Now, for a transitional period of five years, the implementing regulation allows Havarti to be used by operators established in Germany and Spain that began marketing a cheese product bearing this name before 5 October 2010.
European Union
The number of seized shipments in the European Union that contained counterfeit products increased from 57,433 in 2017 to 69,354 in 2018, according to figures released by the European Commission. The growth in interceptions is attributed to the higher number of small parcels being sent through the post due to the rise in online shopping. Cigarettes were the most popular fake item, accounting for 15% of the overall amount of seized goods, followed by toys (14%), packaging material (9%), labels, tags and stickers (9%) and clothing (8%).
Serbia
A draft Trademark Law has been prepared by the IP Office of the Republic of Serbia, with the aim of harmonising Serbian trademark legislation with that of the European Union. The draft law re-introduces a provision that allows trademark owners to prohibit the transit of infringing goods through Serbia and replaces the existing national exhaustion regime with international exhaustion. The draft also introduces opposition proceedings, in combination with an ex officio examination on absolute and relative grounds. At the time of writing, the draft law has not yet been submitted to parliament.
Turkey
The Re-examination and Evaluation Board of the Turkey Patent and Trademark Office has acknowledged that EBAY should be recorded as a well-known mark in Turkey. In making its decision, the board took into account the status of the mark around the world and in the country, with a focus on the realities of the Turkish marketplace.
United Kingdom
In Bentley 1962 Ltd v Bentley Motors Ltd, the UK High Court found that Bentley Motors infringed trademarks belonging to a small UK-based clothing company. Bentley Motors began to manufacture cars in 1919 and later expanded to produce a range of jewellery, accessories and clothing. Bentley Clothing has enjoyed the registered UK mark BENTLEY for “clothing, footwear, headgear” since 2009. In the decision, Judge Hacon found that the car company – after a period of concurrent use – had infringed Bentley Clothing’s rights. Bearing in mind that the dominant element of the sign was the word ‘Bentley’, the court found that there was a likelihood of confusion between this sign and Bentley Clothing’s marks.