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DeutschInvalidity of a trade mark on the grounds of bad faith. The plaintiff's standing is based on the use of the sign.
The plaintiff, Beheermaatschappij Schuitemaker, B.V., is bringing an action for invalidity, based on art. 51.1.b) Trademark Law 17/2001, of Spanish trademark no. 2884969 "SR SCHUITEMAKER", mixed, for goods in class 7 (agricultural machinery), applied for on 16 July 2009 by the defendant. The plaintiff claims that the said trade mark registration is a bad faith trade mark registration by a distributor who decides to appropriate the sign used by his principal without his due authorisation. It is…
MARQUES Annual Conference
The annual conference organised by MARQUES in Madrid will take place from 20 to 23 September 2022. This year's MARQUES Annual Conference will focus on celebrating trademarks. Conference sessions will address, in particular, how sustainability and new technologies will shape the future of brands. Our partner Cristina Hernández-Martí, member of the MARQUES Regulatory Team will be participating.
AIJA Annual Conference in Singapore
The annual AIJA (Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats) Congress took place from 22-27 August 2022 in Singapore. The conference focused on "THE FUTURE OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION: COMING TOGETHER AND EMBRACE CHANGE". During the welcome session Dan Jasnow from ArentFox Schiff in New York sharde his insights on the early legal issues arising from the Metaverse. . It is worth highlighting the panel discussion organised by the Intellectual Property Committee on Technology, Media and…
Organic Law 7/2022, amending Organic Law 6/1985, of 1 July 1985, on the Judiciary (LOPJ) - new developments in the field of industrial property
Organic Law 7/2022, amending Organic Law 6/1985, of 1 July 1985, on the Judiciary (LOPJ), on the subject of Commercial Courts, contains important new developments in the organisation of the jurisdiction, in particular attributing jurisdiction in certain matters between civil and commercial courts, Provincial Courts and specialised sections of the same. Our attention is focused on industrial property matters. The most important change introduced by LO 7/2022 in the field of industrial property…
Geographical indications of craft and industrial products
The Commission has made a proposal for a Regulation creating a framework for the protection of intellectual property for craft and industrial products based on the originality and authenticity of the traditional practices of their regions. Protection will be achieved by extending the system of designations of origin for agricultural products, which has the advantage of drawing on the body of doctrine and case law on this form of intellectual property. The EU Commission believes that the…
Confidentiality agreement. Unfair competition action for breach of confidentiality duties. Damages.
The facts in question are, in summary, the communication of confidential business information, in breach of the confidentiality agreement. The agreement did not state which documents contained the confidential information. The judgment considers that the object of the confidentiality agreement clearly results from the fact that the infringer had access to the information on the operation of a hotel business after the signing of the confidentiality agreement. The confidential information…
Essential characteristics of three-dimensional marks. STGUE of 30 March 2022. Case T-264/21.
Établissement Amra, is a commercial company which is the proprietor of EU three-dimensional trade mark No 10627917, registered for the goods in Class 28 listed below: On 7 February 2018, he filed a notice of opposition to the application for registration of the following three-dimensional mark, owned by eXpresio estudio creativo S.L. However, this was rejected: As the eXpresio mark was registered on 12 October 2019, Établissement Amra filed an application for a declaration of invalidity…
Non Disclosure Agreements
Confidentiality agreements, Non Disclosure Agreements, commonly known as NDAs, are of great importance in business-to-business relations, as can be seen in the following examples. Service providers (IT, maintenance of facilities and machinery, among others) often have access to confidential information of the company receiving such services (production processes, organisation and facilities, etc.). The same happens when an undertaking collaborates with another undertaking in the development of…
The confidentiality duty in the employment contract
Although no one can validly allege ignorance of the law, it is very convenient to include a clause in the employment contract that imposes the specific duty of confidentiality, what this duty implies for the worker, as well as the possible consequences of its infringement, so that in the future it will not be possible to invoke an error in the interpretation and scope of the duty of loyalty established in art. 5 of the Workers' Statute. Article 5. Labour duties. Workers have the following basic…
Trade Secrets
The business owner often has under his control commercial value information, which he protects by means of secrecy. Examples of such information are chemical formulas, manufacturing and organisational processes, product information or financial information. It is intellectual property in the broad sense, which has specific legal protection and no expiry date, but ceases to be protected when the information is disclosed or becomes public (e.g. when the controlling businessman decides to apply…