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.
The Federal Court of Appeal of Canada has released a decision which opens up the possibility that use of a trademark by a third party as a metatag might give rise to a claim for trademark infringement or passing off.
01 February 2016
The latest viral internet hit ‘Be like Bill’ has garnered over 1.5 million ‘likes’ on Facebook in the past few weeks, which means it is serious business to creator Eugeniu Croitoru. Following the discovery of a third-party UK trademark application for BE LIKE BILL, <i>World Trademark Review</i> has been told of his dismay at the filing and a pledge to crack down on misuse in the future.
27 January 2016
A new report from the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights has found that over 1,600 brands placed online advertisements on sites suspected of copyright infringement during its six-week study. The result is that companies could be helping to fund the very sites that their counsel are battling against.
12 January 2016
Episode 11: The ‘.sucks’ and ‘.feedback new gTLDs have been the source of discussion and disagreement in the trademark community, with the focus being on high sunrise charges for brand owners. In the latest episode of the World Trademark Review Podcast, we bring together John Berard, CEO of Vox Populi, the registry behind the ‘.sucks’ string, and ‘.feedback’ CEO Jay Westerdal. Joining them to provide an IP perspective on their offerings are Greg Shatan, partner at Abelman Frayne & Schwab and president of ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency, and Susan Payne, head of legal policy at Valideus.
11 January 2016
The Federal Trade Commission has issued an enforcement policy statement clarifying its approach to deceptively formatted advertisements. The long-awaited guidance on native advertising is welcome, although it remains to be seen just how impactful it will be in practice.
08 January 2016
OP3FT – the non-profit organisation whose purpose is to hold, promote and protect the new Frogans layer of the Internet – has expanded on the rights protection mechanisms being made available to trademark owners. However, a leading commentator has expressed disappointment at the conservative approach it has taken towards IP protection.
05 January 2016
In <i>NOCN (Formerly National Open College Network) v Open College Network Credit4Learning</i>, a trademark infringement and passing-off dispute between two educational charities concerning the use of the term 'Open College Network' and its abbreviation 'OCN', the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court has held that neither party could claim trademark rights or goodwill in either term due to their wholly descriptive nature.
05 January 2016
In a recent decision under the UDRP, a panel has ordered the transfer of a domain name used to facilitate the dissemination of malware. The decision illustrates the fact that, provided that a complainant owns a trademark that is identical, or confusingly similar, to a domain name used for a cyber attack, the UDRP may be used to deliver a swift response to such activities.
05 January 2016
The Office of the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets for 2015 has identified the online marketplaces that reportedly facilitate substantial online piracy and counterfeiting. While sites owned by the Alibaba Group were not listed, the USTR highlighted concerns over its enforcement programmes. By apparent coincidence, in the same week, Alibaba announced that it was bolstering its anti-counterfeiting efforts, starting with the appointment of a new head of global IP enforcement.
04 January 2016
A WIPO panel has denied the transfer of the domain names ‘montecarlo.biz’ and ‘montecarlo.ws’ under the UDRP because the complainant - the owner of the marks CASINO DE MONTE-CARLO and MONTE CARLO - had failed to establish bad-faith registration and use. Among other things, the panel found that the complainant had failed to demonstrate a deliberate intent by the respondent to create a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's trademarks.
04 January 2016
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