NIPC Law

Jane Lambert Court of Justice of the European Union (Judges L. Bay Larsen (President of the Chamber), J. Malenovský, M. Safjan, D. Šváby and M. Vilaras (Rapporteur)) Joined appeals  C‑84/17 P, C‑85/17 P and C‑95/17 P,  Société des produits Nestlé SA v Mondelez UK Holdings    & Services Ltd. [2018] EUECJ C-84/17P, ECLI:EU:C:2018:596  25 July 2018 The issue before the Court of Justice of the European Union was whether it is necessary for a mark that is devoid of distinctive character to have acquired distinctiveness through use in each and every member state of the European Union in order to be registered as an EU trade mark, or whether it is enough to show that it has acquired distinctiveness through use in the EU as a whole. The Mark The mark that is the subject of this discussion is the 3-dimensional shape in the above photograph.  It was registered by the Société des produits Nestlé SA ("Nestlé") as an EU trade mark for...

The Rival Logos: Enterprise's to the left and Europcar's to the right In Enterprise Holdings, Inc v Europcar Group UK Ltd and another [2015] EWHC 17 (Ch) (13 Jan 2015) Enterprise Holdings Inc . ( "Enterprise" ) sued Europcar UK Ltd  and its French holding company ( "Europcar" ) for trade mark infringement and passing off.  Enterprise trades under the logo to the left while Europcar had begun to use the sign on the right. The litigation in England iwa part of a global struggle between the two car hire giants over those logos.  According to Mr Justice Arnold there are some 98 trade mark disputes between those parties over Europcar's new logo around the world.  The Registration Enterprise alleged infringement of 3 of its UK registered trade Marks and 7 of its Community ones. At trial Enterprise focused its case on CTM  937,4497 ( "the CTM" ) which was registered as of 14 Sept 2010 in respect of  "vehicle rental and leasing ...

In Thomas Pink Limited v Victoria's Secret UK Ltd [2014] EWHC 2631 (Ch) (31 July 2014) Mr Justice Birss had to resolve a dispute between two well known retailers. The claimant was Thomas Pink  which had started life as a specialist shirt maker in Jeremyn Street. It is now part of the LVMH Group  the interests of which range from champagne to fashion. The defendant was  Victoria's Secret UK  which is best known for its bras and knickers  particularly in the US where it began. Both retailers are diversifying their businesses.  Thomas Pink's website has a section for "Women" after "New Collection", "Men", "Shirts", "Ties" and "Accessories" while Victoria's Secret is moving into women's clothing generally. The Dispute The battle arose over the right to use the word "Pink" as a brand. According to Wikipedia  the claimant was named after Thomas Pink, an 18th-century tailor, who made the h...