The Eurasian Economic Union was created in 1994, culminating in the 2014 Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The current members of this trading block are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Russian Federation, plus three observer states (Cuba,More
New Legislation: CASE Act and Protecting Lawful Streaming Act
H.R.133 — 116th Congress (2020)
On December 27, 2020, President Donald Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (H.R. 133), better known as the Omnibus Spending and COVID-19 Relief bill, into law. The Act incorporated trademark and copyright protection provisions,More
New Legislation: Trademark Expungement and Reexamination Proceedings
On December 27, 2020, the United States enacted the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) of 2020. The TMA, which will be implemented by December 27, 2021, aims to remove unused marks from the U.S. federal trademark register. In turn,More
New Legislation: Presumption Resumption – Rebuttable Presumption of Irreparable Harm Reintroduced in Trademark Injunctive Relief Actions
Buried deep within Congress’s December 21, 2020, COVID-19 Relief and Omnibus Spending bill is the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (the “Trademark Act of 2020”). The Trademark Act of 2020 amends several provisions of the Lanham Act to streamline trademark litigation and address issues of abuse that have plagued the United States Patent and Trademark Office.More
European Union: DUCK … DUCK… GO! The Popular Search Engine Wins Invalidation Action against Pirate’s Identical Registration in the EU
Many of us are familiar with the children’s game “Duck Duck Goose:” A circle of children, all sitting with their legs tucked, eager to spring up once they are selected with a mighty thump on their head and the yell of “Goose!” and off they go….More
China: Michael Jordan Scores over Chinese Trademark Pirate after Nine-year Battle
By Sahil Yadav
Michael Jeffrey Jordan v. Qiaodan Sport Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Bairen Trading Co. Ltd. , Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court, 2020
A nine-year tussle between NBA legend Michael Jordan and an infamously successful cyber squatter,More
China: Fighting Trademark Trolls
Uniqlo Trading Co. Ltd. vs Guangzhou Compass Exhibition Service Co. Ltd. and Zhongwei Enterprise Management & Consultancy Co. Ltd., China Supreme Court: (2018) Zui Gao Fa Min Zai No. 396.
Over the years,More
United Kingdom: Sky’s Defensive Filings Partially Succumb to Skykick’s Bad-faith Claims
By Sahil Yadav
Sky Plc & Ors v SkyKick UK Ltd & Anr;[2020] EWHC 990 (Ch)
The UK High Court recently heard the Sky v. Skykick case ([2018] EWHC 155 (Ch)) case again after it had earlier referred it to the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) to decide the validity of Sky’s registrations.More
EU & Japan: Brand Owners Encounter High Threshold to Register Single-Color Marks
Two recent decisions by the EU General Court and the IP High Court of Japan demonstrate the very high bar that brand owners face in registering a mark consisting exclusively of a single color.
I.More
EU: Fame as Determinative Factor in Likelihood-of-Confusion Analysis
Joined Cases C-449/18 P and C-474/18 P: EUIPO v Messi Cuccittini and P J.M.-E.V. e hijos v Messi Cuccittini (2020).
The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) dismissed appeals against the General Court (“GC”)’s decision and confirmed that there was no likelihood of confusion between the marks MESSI and MASSI given the well-known reputation of the Argentine football player Lionel Messi.More