Sector: Retail

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued an enforcement policy statement in January that clarified its stance on deceptively formatted advertisements. As we noted at the time, what will be important going forward is how the organisation tackles subsequent enforcement actions. This month the FTC shed some light onto its approach, in particular in the social media environment.

29 March 2016

Last week we reported in some detail on the Supreme Court decision in a dispute between Magmatic, creator of the Trunki ride-on suitcase, and PMS International Group, which produces Kiddee case luggage. While initially described as a blow to the UK design industry, a number of leading commentators have responded to the negativity, arguing that the decision provides a very useful real-life example of how far registered design rights extend.

14 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

A recent Supreme Court decision cancelling some of IKEA’s trademarks on the grounds of non-use means that any three-year period of non-use potentially makes trademarks vulnerable and subsequent use does not rectify this. A harsh judgment, perhaps, but one which is within the interpretation of the law.

02 March 2016

A settlement ending a five-year legal battle between Macy’s Department Stores and Strategic Marks has seen the latter take ownership of a number of historical department store brands. Ellia Kassoff, chief executive and president of the company, told <i>World Trademark Review</i> of his resurrection plan for the brands and argued that he should be regarded as a ‘product recycler’ rather than a trademark troll.

01 March 2016

Walt Disney has supplanted Lego as the world’s most powerful brand, according to the Brand Finance Global 500 2016. Acquisition activity has played a key role, with Marvel and Lucasfilm properties propelling the Walt Disney brand up the brand strength league table.

01 February 2016

Following the release of a white paper detailing WeChat’s IP protection efforts in 2015, World Trademark Review has spoken with the China-Britain Business Council about its nascent efforts to establish a dialogue between Tencent and UK rights holders. We also received an update on the council’s ongoing strategic collaboration with Alibaba Group.

29 January 2016

In El Corte Inglés SA v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, the European Court of Justice set aside an EU General Court judgment insofar as it held that, since the degree of similarity between the signs at issue did not suffice to result in the application of Article 8(1)(b) of the EU Community Trademark Regulation, the conditions for the application of Article 8(5) were therefore also not satisfied.

15 January 2016

No Chinese company attracted greater international attention last year than Alibaba Group, thanks to its record-smashing listing on the NYSE. <em>World Trademark Review</em> sat down with Karen Law in Hong Kong to discuss the brands, the float and the ongoing fight against fakes

27 February 2015