Perspectives
Trademark-related quotes, opinions and observations from around the globe.
“Starting from a low global IP standard, progress has been slow and inconsistent. Yet there are obvious green shoots, seen most clearly in the adoption of broader measures to improve the systemic efficiency of IP rights administration and the ability of IP owners to leverage their rights to finance innovative and creative activities. Notwithstanding continued political threats to undermine IP rights for populist purposes, there is evidence that the world is becoming an IP believer, inspired by the possibility of a better tomorrow.”
The US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Centre accentuates the positives of global IP protection in its latest International IP Index (7 February 2019)
Myrtha Hurtado Rivas
“We are seeing that we need outside counsel who are very knowledgeable about the regulatory area of pharmaceuticals law because things have become much more complex from a digital perspective, a competition law standpoint and a biosimilars perspective. It is not enough to know your IP law anymore; a diversified pharmaceuticals skill-set is required, which is a challenge for some law firms.”
Myrtha Hurtado Rivas of Novartis tells World Trademark Review (WTR) about the need for law firm practitioners to develop their approach when working with pharmaceutical clients (31 January 2019)
“Since summer 2016, the Latvian IP Board of Appeal has received more than 100 oppositions against the trademark applications of ‘Grigorius Holdings’ and one against ‘Fashion One Television’ so far. In all, the Board of Appeal has acknowledged 10 times that the application for a trademark registration received from Grigorius Holdings was made in bad faith in cases when the contested mark and the goods or services were identical to earlier trademark and goods and services.”
A spokesperson for the Latvian Patent Office speaks to WTR after we revealed that entities related to serial trademark filer Michael Gleissner had been responsible for more than half of the trademark registrations received by the registry in 2019 to date (29 January 2019)
“It’s a never-ending war. If there was a miracle that stopped the product of fakes in China, it would just continue in countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Personally, I will always suggest that everyone buys authentic products as the quality is worth it and it’s more satisfying to know that your item is genuine. But while I don’t condone and do not participate in buying fakes, many here do because the real brand costs too much for the average person here.”
Colin – the video creator behind YouTube channel C3 TheCollywoodLife, which publishes investigative videos on fake products available in Guangzhou, China – reflects on the uphill battle for brands seeking to end the trade in counterfeit goods (21 January 2019)
“Louis Vuitton’s strategy of separately registering the individual elements of a pattern could entitle Louis Vuitton to greater monetary damages if the defendants are found to infringe all the asserted marks. This brand protection strategy also gives Louis Vuitton an additional opportunity to assert its trademarks against potential infringers that make slight alterations to portions of the toile monogram design mark. For brand owners, this case highlights the potential advantage of registering individual elements of a pattern or design.”
Writing on Lexology, Victoria E Ellis and Peter Law of Knobbe Martens consider how Louis Vuitton’s brand protection strategy could increase the opportunities for other brand owners to combat infringement (16 January 2019)
Carissa Kendall-Windless
“It serves as a warning to multinational companies that they can no longer simply file trademark applications without a genuine intention to use it (a bit like cybersquatting but instead ‘trademark squatting’). Furthermore, it acts as a timely reminder that in these ‘David versus Goliath’ cases, the smaller company may be legally advised, stubborn and keen to clear its own brand pathway, and thus does not always roll over and concede to the demands and objections of the larger multinational.”
Carissa Kendall-Windless, senior associate at IP law firm EIP, reflects on the successful Supermac’s application to revoke the BIG MAC mark at the EUIPO (15 January 2019)
“This is an exciting milestone in Clarivate’s evolution that will open a wide range of future growth opportunities for the business and allow us to further invest in the brightest minds, game changing data science, and robust technologies.”