Adidas was able to suceed in front of the General Court of the European Union in averting the registration of two parallel stripes on shoes as a European Trademark for Shoe Branding Europe.The Court found that there is a likelihood that the marks applied for in the present case unfairly exploit the earlier Adidas mark consisting of the representation of three parallel stripes on a shoe (judgments of 01.03.2018, Case No: T-85/16 and T-629/16).(Read more…)

Prof. Bulling’s team of authors explains in the usual clear, practice-oriented and easy-to-understand way the requirements for protection, application procedures and registration of designs not only according to German and European law, but also concerning the US, Japan, China and Korea. The authors also present the nullity and infringement proceedings and related legal remedies with the necessary precision. In doing so, they took into account the amendments to the German Design Act, which came into force in 2014, and the current case law.(Read more…)

Despite the present uncertainty regarding the implementation of the Unitary Patent, the European Patent Office has now published the first edition of the Unitary Patent guide.(Read more…)

At the beginning of October 2017 the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) are moving to a new location.(Read more…)

Before the Unified Patent Court can become operational, the UPC Agreement (UPCA) has to be ratified by Germany. (Read more…)