Canadian National Railway Company v. BNSF Railway Company, 2020 FCA 45
Historically, the Federal Court of Canada (where most IP litigation is heard) has been issuing so-called protective orders covering confidential information,More
Australia: Assignment of Unregistered Marks
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC v Bega Cheese Limited [2020] FCAFC 65 (14 April 2020)
The Federal Court of Australia (FCA) overturned the lower court’s decision and held that an unregistered mark could not be assigned separately from the goodwill of the business in which it is used.More
WIPO: Guidance on Prosecuting International Registrations During COVID-19 Pandemic
By Tom Balducci
Trademark owners who use the Madrid System for the international registration of trademarks (or their representatives, collectively “Holders”) face a range of challenges in meeting deadlines and communicating with the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) during the COVID-19 pandemic. WIPO has issued the following guidelines to address issues likely to arise from the lockdowns in many countries.More
Coronavirus Scams and the Trademark Act
By Richard Lehv
Phony cures, pyramid schemes, counterfeit products, bait-and-switch tactics, and wildly inflated prices: these are just some of the problems that plague the marketplace in ordinary times. The current pandemic has given swindlers, scammers, grifters, and counterfeiters an incentive to invent new schemes.More
United Kingdom: Court of Appeal Clarifies When a Work is a Product of Joint Authorship
Kogan v. Martin et al., [2019] EWCA Civ 1645, Case No: A3/2018/0070.
In a recent decision addressing works of joint authorship, the U.K. Court of Appeal sets out factors to consider when undertaking the often complex analysis of whether a work is indeed a product of joint ownership.More
Netherlands: Facebook Held Liable for Authorizing Fake Bitcoin Ads
In October 2018, a third party posted fake advertisements on Facebook and Instagram linking Bitcoin and other crypto-concurrencies to John de Mol, a famous European media entrepreneur and TV producer. The ads contained De Mol’s name and portrait and were published without his consent.More
Japan: Jam Seller Rebuts Presumption of Similarity between Goods and Retail Sale of Goods
[No official case caption]
In a 2018 decision (H29 (Wa) 123, February 14, 2018), the Tokyo District Court denied a trademark infringement claim, finding that “retail services or wholesale services for processed food” are not similar to the goods “plum/blueberry jam.” The retail services were registered in connection with the mark JOYFARM in Katakana,More
Israel: Joins Hague System for Registering Industrial Designs
As of January 3, 2020, companies and designers from Israel can use the Hague System to protect their industrial designs in Israel and/or in any of the other member countries of the Hague System. And, foreign companies can also designate Israel on their international applications for industrial designs.More
France: New Trademark Law
On November 13, 2019, the French government published Order No. 2019-1169, followed by an implementing Decree on December 9, 2019. The purpose of this regulation was to incorporate into French law the EU Directive 2015/2436 and to simplify certain aspects of French trademark law and procedure.More
European Union: Broad Identifications Not Grounds for Invalidating Trademark Registrations
By Sahil Yadav
Sky Plc & Ors v SkyKick UK Ltd & Anr (Case C-371/18)
The Court of Justice of the European Union recently issued its decision in the referral from the UK High Court in the Sky v.More