On appeal from the EUIPO Board of Appeal, the EU General Court has held that the slogan mark “IT’S LIKE MILK BUT MADE FOR HUMANS” is distinctive for foodstuff, including dairy substitutes. The inclusion of the word “but” called into question the commonly accepted idea that milk is a key element of the human diet; and thereby conveyed a message which is capable of setting off a cognitive process in the minds of the relevant…
Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 5 March 2020, Case C-766/18 P Can I register as a trademark a term designating a geographical territory? Although the answer to this question may seem simple in light of the EU Trademark Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 stipulating that indications which may serve to designate the geographical origin of a good or service cannot be registered as trademarks, the very same legal text provides for…
The question referred for a preliminary ruling by the Kúria (the Hungarian Supreme Court), dated 23 April 2020, was raised in connection with the application for a three-dimensional trade mark filed on 5 February 2015 by the company Gömböc Kutató, Szolgáltató és Kereskedelmi Kft. (hereinafter ‘Gömböc’), before the Hungarian Trademark Office (Szellemi Tulajdon Nemzeti Hivatala), which refused the Application. In particular, the application contained a three-dimensional element and claimed protection in Class 14 for decorative…
Introduction In a recent decision, Heineken Asia Pacific Pte Ltd v Super La Via Sdn Bhd [1](Heineken) the Malaysian High Court held that a party accused of trademark infringement could not rely on being a mere middleman just facilitating the importation of counterfeit goods to be sold by another party to a non-Malaysian market to avoid liability. The assertion of non-ownership of the said goods is not a statutory defence under the Malaysian Trade Marks…