A new academic paper argues that Amazon has upended the US trademark system with little public recognition, and that questions about trademark law in the modern age need answering.
A deep dive into two Beijing High Court judgments indicates that a company’s use of its own mobile app constitutes trademark use and can therefore maintain registration in the face of cancellation or invalidation actions. Businesses should be aware of this when dealing with trademark challenges in China.
Data analysis reveals that individual esports games and teams have different approaches to trademark protection, with particular standout filers.
Innelec Multimedia contested the seizure of its goods by French Customs. The court found in favour of Innelec and ordered that Customs pay the warehousing fees and compensation.
22 March 2016
Apple recently removed Magic AdBlock, a program used to block and filter online advertisements, from its App Store after receiving a complaint of trademark infringement from the producers of rival software AdBlock Plus. The dispute underlines the often crucial role that branding and trademarks can play in open source projects where patent and copyright protection is absent.
16 March 2016
US company eBay Inc has successfully opposed the registration of E-MARKET E-BAY HELLAS because of its similarity to its own EBAY marks.
09 March 2016
The CEO of one of the biggest e-sports organisations has revealed how trademarks have allowed it to commercialise its brand and expand around the world. In this fledgling sector, such a proactive approach to IP is rare; but major e-sports teams should be more aware of the importance of their brands - both for their own growth and for the credibility of the industry.
08 March 2016
In a January 28 2016 decision (I ZR 202/14) the Federal Supreme Court confirmed a decision of the Cologne Court of Appeal and rejected any claims based on the name of the weather app wetter.de against the use of wetter DE and wetter-DE by a competitor.
26 February 2016
Pledges by technology companies to rigorously enforce their trademarks are usually met with hostility and criticism online. However, a statement from the developers behind open source software Kodi vowing to crack down on trademark infringement, and even asking its community for help in this effort, has largely been welcomed, thanks to transparent engagement and a proactive social media strategy
22 February 2016
The United States District Court Northern District of Florida has ordered Uber Technologies to ensure that specific search engine results in Alachua County do not replace the results for local company Uber Promotions. The ruling potentially places Uber Technologies in a tricky situation, as it seeks to ensure that results across multiple search engines comply with the order.
19 February 2016
Growing use of technology based on the Bitcoin protocol will transform the fight against counterfeiting, claims one industry expert, who suggests that it could also help to rebuild consumer trust in luxury brands.
15 February 2016
A new trend of sellers on online marketplaces offering customisable code for programmers to easily reskin popular phone apps is on the rise, and should be on the radars of all trademark counsel who enforce marks that are represented on app stores. The good news is that, as one industry expert notes, taking down one infringing customisable code could potentially stop hundreds of infringing apps from entering the app store environment.
10 February 2016
A YouTube comedy channel with 14 million subscribers has been forced to reverse plans to license the format of its popular ‘reaction’ videos and apply for trademarks for the names of its shows due to a huge online backlash. The dramatic loss of subscribers suffered by the Fine Brothers in the aftermath of its original announcement illustrates the very real impact that a backlash can have due to a change in IP strategy.
03 February 2016
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