Insights

With the ongoing COVID-19 crisis providing added incentive, consumers are increasingly turning to digital channels to access products and services. The recent phenomenon of influencer marketing offers both opportunities and pitfalls for brand owners, says Casper Hemelrijk.

Counterfeit purchases spike before holidays such as Christmas and during designated sales periods, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the January sales.

Although relatively little used by applicants, international preliminary examinations make it possible to defend the patentability of an invention following an unfavourable international search report, as Pierre Gauer explains.

The European Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has found that Ferrari can retain the trademark rights to the Testarossa brand, even though production of the iconic sports car was discontinued in the 1990s, as Theo Visser explains.

The UK’s departure from the EU at the end of this year will change the territorial requirements for genuine use of EU and UK trademarks, as Vanessa Harrow explains.

An essential device to fight the spread of COVID-19, the mask now represents a retail market in its own right. Marine Dissoubray spells out the IP implications.

Protecting patentable innovations in the US and EU is the foundation of many corporate patent portfolios. However, a first patent filing in the US can cause issues obtaining subsequent protection in Europe, as Nadège Lagneau explains.

In its unequivocal refusal of 'The Van Gogh' EU trademark application, the European IP Office (EUIPO) has confirmed its previous rulings on the likelihood of confusion between 'fruits extracts, alcoholic' and 'alcoholic beverages’, as Clémence Guilbert explains.

Many companies estimate the health and relative worth of their IP portfolios based on size alone. However, those IP rights could be worth far less if the following checks and balances are not also considered.