EU

A recent judgement by the Court of Justice of the EU has considered whether failing to specify goods and services clearly and precisely in trademark applications is a sign that the applicant acted in bad faith.

Service offering customers the opportunity to pay to name a star, in return for a certificate, found to be misleading for the purposes of trademark registration, as Louise van de Mortel explains. 

Will the PACTE law, which seeks to tighten up the way in which patents are issued in France, result in stronger French patents or a gradual abandonment of its measures?

Find out how Novagraaf assisted the University of Bordeaux and University Medical Centre of Bordeaux’s IP management organisation, SATT Aquitaine Science Transfer, to protect a new breakthrough treatment. 

While “natural wine” is growing in popularity with consumers, there is currently no official label, legal definition or regulation to describe what makes a wine “natural”, says Manon Brodin.

Holders of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) international applications will soon be able to apply for protection of their invention in Italy without going through the European Patent system.

EPO ruling on CRISPR gene-editing patent is only the latest example of priority arrangements made according to US practice causing problems for European Patent applications, as Dr Oliver Harris explains. 

Trademark law allows brand owners to take action against a trademark applied for ‘in bad faith’. But, what is meant by ‘bad faith’, and what is the process for bringing such a claim?

Registration of thebrexitparty.com by anti-Brexit campaign group ‘Led by Donkeys’ has been the cause of anger and embarrassment for Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage. The domain name is not proving easy to retrieve, as Laurence Rivière explains.

The average consumer may think that the bottles of their favourite wines come in standard shapes that are free to all producers to use. However, bottle shapes can be protected as trademarks, so long as they meet the necessary requirements.

The EU General Court ruled in October that the iconic puzzle Rubik's Cube does not meet the requirements for registration as a 3D trademark. Louise van de Mortel sets out the decision and what it could mean for brands looking to protect shapes as trademarks in the EU.

Of course every business should undertake trademark clearance searching before launching a brand, but not every small or start-up business understands why – until they receive a cease and desist letter demanding that they change their branding. Vanessa Harrow offers some advice.