When a company owns the Benelux rights in the design of a chair but then it fails to maintain the registration of its Benelux rights under Benelux law, can a rival company still be stopped from making similar chairs because of the links between the old Benelux law and current EU law? More specifically, what is the relationship between Benelux rights and the EU’s ‘term of protection’ Directive 93/98/EEC?
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Case C-24/16, Nintendo – jurisdiction by design
Nintendo is suing companies in the German courts for the alleged infringement of its design rights. However, the German courts wonder if they have jurisdiction to decide the case and the scope of any measures they might impose. The first problem is that the German defendant is only a subsidiary and its parent company is domiciled in France. The second problem is that although the defendant’s website has images on it that correspond to Nintendo’s design rights, these have been put there so that consumers know immediately that the defendant’s goods can be used in Nintendo’s games consoles.
Continue readingCase C-421/13, Apple – seeking trade mark protection for the layout and design of a retail store
Is the layout and design of a shop capable of being protected by EU trade mark law? And if so, then what conditions should be attached to prevent a right holder from invoking their monopoly against the stores of their competitors?
Continue readingCase C-419/13, Art & Allposters International – from paper art poster to canvas picture
When a company takes paper posters of famous art works and puts them onto canvas, is the company infringing an author’s right to control the distribution of a copyright-protected work as enshrined in Article 4 of the EU’s InfoSoc Directive 2001/29?
Continue readingCase C-98/13, Martin Blomqvist – deliberately purchasing a fake Rolex from China
When a consumer deliberately buys a fake Rolex from a Chinese website and then Danish customs seizes the watch, is the watch to be destroyed without compensation?
Continue readingCase C-201/13, Johan Deckmyn – parody in EU law
Belgium has a tradition of creating comic book figures. Tintin is perhaps the most famous comic book character but another popular comic strip chronicles the adventures of ‘Spike and Suzy’ [Suske and Wiske]. Comic books can be protected by copyright. In this reference, the issue is whether the right holders can stop a political party from circulating a picture that spoofs the cover of a Spike and Suzy story.
Continue readingCase C-583/12, Sintax Trading – who decides whether imported goods infringe design rights?
For the purposes of the EU’s counterfeit goods Regulation No 1383/2003, who is to decide on whether the design of 64 000 bottles of mouthwash imported into Estonia from Ukraine infringes a registered design in Estonia?
Continue readingCase C-360/12, Coty Prestige Lancaster Group – jurisdiction and participation in trade mark infringement
Can a trade mark be infringed in Germany as a result of an act committed in Belgium? And for the purposes of Article 5(3) of EC Regulation 44/2001, does the harmful event occur in Germany if a tortious act is committed in Belgium but there was participation in the main tortious act which took place in Germany?
Continue readingCase C-657/11, Belgian Electronic Sorting Technology – does a domain name advertise?
Does the EU’s Misleading Advertising Directive 2006/114 mean that the concept of ‘advertising’ covers the domain name of a website or its metatags?
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