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The Second Board of Appeal of the European IP Office (EUIPO) recently issued a decision confirming the refusal to register an emoji trademark representing ‘I Love You’. The EUIPO had refused to register the pictogram on the basis that it was unable to fulfil the essential function of a trademark, namely to indicate the origin of the products and/or services of a company.
Trademark availability and clearance checks are a vital part of the brand development process. Mona Asgari explains how to build a strong IP foundation for brand development from identifying IP assets to trademark clearance searching.
Domain names are a valuable commercial asset for many companies and an important element of their IP portfolios. However, protecting domain name rights requires knowledge of completely different enforcement systems, such as the WIPO UDRP.
Tracking and recording decisions relating to new trademarks and branding is a vital but often overlooked part of the IP management process. In the first article of our new series on brand development, Vanessa Harrow explains why and offers a practical guide on where to start.
EUIPO's cancellation of the MINISO trademark based on a copyright registration underlines that a trademark registration can be cancelled for infringing other IP rights, not simply registered trademarks, says Valerie Annan.
Trademark renewals must be instructed in a timely manner to ensure compliance with relevant deadlines and formalities. To facilitate this process for our clients, Novagraaf has added a new ‘reminder’ function for unsent instructions to the renewals module of its IP portal EasyIP.
On 13 June 2023, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) published a long-awaited communication regarding the conditions for suspending China trademark review cases. Carole Roger outlines its implications.
Counterfeiting and piracy are constant challenges for brand owners in both online and offline channels. The Anti-counterfeiting Benchmarking Report released by the International Trademark Association (INTA) in May provides valuable insights and counterfeiting statistics that illuminate the scale of the problem and the resources necessary to address it.
In affirming the EUIPO’s decision to refuse the registration of a figurative mark for confectionery containers, the EU General Court has confirmed that the principles developed in the context of 3D trademarks are also applicable to 2D trademarks.
Rebekah Vardy has successfully registered WAGATHA CHRISTIE as a UK trademark after a recent libel case hit the tabloids, but is it vulnerable to bad faith?
In disputes over pharmaceutical trademarks, the courts take a precautionary approach to exclude any risk of confusion between two medicines marketed under similar brand names. However, this restrictive approach has been qualified by EU case law, as Florence Chapin explains.
Parallel imports, also known as ‘exhaustion of trademark rights’ or the ‘first sale doctrine’, is a well-known limitation to the rights of trademark owners. Volha Parfenchyk discusses the practice in the context of two recent EU rulings on the branding of generic medicinal products.