Insights

Have you ever thought about using a well-known painting or work of art as a trademark? It is a strategy that has proved successful in the past, as illustrated by Nestlé’s adoption of the Johannes Vermeer painting Milkmaid. However, there are a number of pitfalls that must first be identified and overcome, as Volha Parfenchyk explains.

On 1 June 2022, Novagraaf's Luke Portnow and Thomsen Trampedach's Markus Rouvinen provided useful take-home points and experiences on implementing smart solutions to current IP challenges in private practice and in-house.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) became a hot topic and a potential cause of panic for many IP owners at the beginning of the year. Could the arrival of NFTs and the growth of the virtual herald a revolution for IP rights.

The joint study released in March also discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing problems by opening new opportunities for illicit trade.

The District Court of Amsterdam has found geo-blocking and access-restricting measures sufficient to protect the copyright of Anne Frank’s ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’, despite the fact such measures are not fully airtight.

If you registered your brand name as a trademark, you can oppose the (more recent) use of a similar name for similar products and/or services if that use could cause confusion among the relevant public. To exercise your trademark rights, you must first monitor and identify for conflicting use. 

Establishing valid priority claims can be challenging for co-applicants in Europe, as Stéphanie Landais-Patarin explains.

If you receive an invoice or special offer from a company you do not know, there is a risk it could be a scam. A growing number of dishonest companies are sending out fake invoices and misleading offers hoping to catch patent and trademark owners unaware. 

Businesses and their trademark departments need to react quickly to new global and digital challenges today if they are to secure their brand for the future.