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Google has announced a relaxation of its policies involving the sponsoring of other people’s trade marks as keywords. Sponsoring keywords triggers adverts when Internet users search on those terms. The...
Should ASDA have gone to Specsavers to see that its strapline would take unfair advantage? – Specsavers v Asda, High Court
Specsavers was a famous money-saving optician and had registered trade marks for its name and two overlapping ovals logo. Asda was re-launching its optician service. Specsavers objected to the logo and...
Parallel importer not brand owner has burden of proving that goods were on the market with brand owner’s consent – Honda v David Silver Spares, High Court
DSS was the leading supplier of spare parts for Honda motorbikes. Honda alleged that DSS was infringing its registered trade marks by importing and supplying Honda branded parts which had not been put...
High Court does not disturb spirit of trade mark co-existence agreement made way back in time – Omega v Omega, High Court
Omega SA was a Swiss company that manufactured watches for over 150 years. Omega Engineering Inc was an American company that has manufactured products for measurement of temperature and humidity for about...
Don’t be so casual with use of easy name and up your game, Stelios tells easyJet
Stelios Haji-Ioannou – the founder of easyJet - has told the airline that it must improve its performance if it wants to continue using the ‘easy’ name. Although he was the founder, his family are...
Rooney scores win by kicking image rights agreement into touch – Proactive Sports Management v Rooney and Stoneygate, High Court
Wayne Rooney had assigned his image rights to S, to act on his behalf with negotiating sponsorship deals. P agreed with S whereby P would act on behalf of S for exploiting some those rights. The agreement...
ECJ gives guidance to objecting to use of trade marks in keywords – Portakabin v Primakabin, European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice has given guidance as to when registered trade mark owners can complain about the use of their marks by people who bid for them to appear high up search engine results.
In...
High Court says there was no unlawful threat of trade mark infringement as it needed to be viewed in the context of wider negotiations – Best Buy v Worldwide Sales Corp, High Court
Best Buy was a large American retail chain and was opening stores in the UK. Best Buy had applied to register a European Community Trade Mark. The application was opposed by the owner of an existing trade...
Trade mark applicant told that use of Idol is not ideal
The Intellectual Property Office has allowed in part an application from the owners of the POP IDOL registered trade mark to oppose the application for MODEL IDOL. The description of some of the advertising...
Court of Appeal thinks ECJ comparative advertising ruling is not worth it, but follows it reluctantly – L’Oréal v Bellure, Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal has followed a key 2009 decision of the European Court of Justice on comparative advertising because it said it had to do so, but issued some stinging criticism of the ECJ’s ruling....