Around the IP Blogs

These feet were
made for walking...
 

Join me for a walk around the blogs...


Patents

The German Bundestag has adopted amendments to the German Patent Act. The changes introduce (i) a codified proportionality defense to injunctions in patent infringement proceedings, (ii) new confidentiality rules for patent disputes, and (iii) an accelerated timeline for nullity actions. While the Bundesrat still has to approve this bill, this is not believed to be controversial. Thus, the changes described below are expected to enter into force in a few weeks, except (iii), which will enter into force in spring 2022. Kluwer Patent Blog reported on the changes.

 

Trade marks

The EUIPO Observatory launched an awareness campaign entitled “Risks and Damages Posed by IPR Infringement in Europe”. It is part of the annual Pan-European Media Campaign and also marked World Anti-Counterfeiting Day on 8 June. Marques provided highlights of the campaign.

 

Tefal applied to register “a plain red dot affixed centrally to the bottom of a cooking receptacle (such as a pan, saucepan)”. The goods covered were “frying pans, saucepans, casseroles, stew-pans, cooking pots, crepe pans, grills, woks” in Class 21. The UK IPO refused the application because Tefal had not shown that it was inherently distinctive, nor had it acquired distinctiveness through use. Kluwer Trademark Blog reported on the application.

 

Recently, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia have made a collective endeavor to move towards the formation of a regional system dealing with trade marks, service marks and appellations of origin of goods in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Marques provided an explanation of how it will work.

 

The German Federal Court of Justice (“BGH”) held in its decision “Papierspender” (“Paper Dispenser”) that a Community design was not automatically caught by the functionality provision of the Community Design Regulation because it had appeared in a patent application. The decision highlights the importance for product developers to keep detailed records, already during product development, as to why a particular visual appearance of the product was chosen. Kluwer Trademark Blog reported on the decision.

 

Copyright

In the midst of the economic and social paralysis arising from the COVID 19 pandemic, the tireless discipline of law has prevailed as always, if anything with increased activity. The Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances (the “Treaty”) came into force on 28 April 2020 in the first thirty contracting parties. Kluwer Copyright Blog provided a look at the effect of the Treaty in audiovisual performances.

 

Other: Industrial Designs

IPTango published a discussion on the modulation of the effects of the decision declaring the unconstitutionality of the sole paragraph of article 40 of the Industrial Property Law of Brazil.

Around the IP Blogs Around the IP Blogs Reviewed by Magdaleen Jooste on Sunday, July 04, 2021 Rating: 5

No comments:

All comments must be moderated by a member of the IPKat team before they appear on the blog. Comments will not be allowed if the contravene the IPKat policy that readers' comments should not be obscene or defamatory; they should not consist of ad hominem attacks on members of the blog team or other comment-posters and they should make a constructive contribution to the discussion of the post on which they purport to comment.

It is also the IPKat policy that comments should not be made completely anonymously, and users should use a consistent name or pseudonym (which should not itself be defamatory or obscene, or that of another real person), either in the "identity" field, or at the beginning of the comment. Current practice is to, however, allow a limited number of comments that contravene this policy, provided that the comment has a high degree of relevance and the comment chain does not become too difficult to follow.

Learn more here: http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/p/want-to-complain.html

Powered by Blogger.