NIPC Law

J ane Lambert Chancery Division (HH Judge Melissa Clarke)  Jaguar Land Rover Ltd v Ineos Industries Holdings Ltd [2020] EWHC 2130 (Ch) (3 Aug 2020) On 11 April 2016, Jaguar Landrover Ltd. ("JLR") applied to register the shapes of the Land Rover Defender 90 and Land Rover Defender 110 motor vehicles, in each case with and without rear-mounted spare wheels ("the Marks") and the shapes of the Defender 90 and 110 with spare wheels, in classes 9, 12, 14, 28 and 37.  On 12 May 2016, that company applied to register the shapes of the Defender 90 and 110 without spare wheels. Unlike registered designs, design rights and copyrights, trade marks can be renewed indefinitely. It is not easy to register the shape of a product because there are restrictions on the registrations of signs that consist exclusively of indications which may serve, in trade, to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, the time of production...

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...

Jane Lambert Société Des Produits Nestlé SA v Cadbury UK Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 358 (17 May 2017) Unregistered design right  subsists for no more than 15 years. A design registration for only 25. But a trade mark registration can last forever. That no doubt explains why La Société des Produits Nestlé S.A  ("Nestlé") has persevered with this case despite losing to Cadbury UK Ltd  ("Cadbury") in the Trade Marks Registry and on appeal. The Issue S.1 (1) of the Trade Marks Act 1994  provides that any sign can be a trade mark so long as it is "capable of being represented graphically" and "capable of distinguishing goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings." The section gives some examples one of which is "the shape of goods or their packaging." On 8 July 2010, Nestlé's trade mark agents applied to the  Intellectual Property Office  ("the IPO") to register the shape of the K...