LATEST ETMR, MIP

December ETMR now out

The twelfth and final issue of Sweet & Maxwell's European Trade Mark Reports for 2005 has now been published. Cases appearing in English for the first time include

* Clarins Paris SA v Supermercados Sabeco SA (Audiencia Provincia, Zaragoza, Spain), on the availability of damages for commercial and "moral" loss following the sale of luxury brands in downmarket surroundings;

* 100 PANORAMICZNYCH (Supreme Court, Poland) on locus standi for invoking cancellation proceedings and on the assessment of what might be called non-descriptive descriptiveness;

* Adidas-Salomon AG v Patent and Trade Mark Office (Spanish Supreme Court): here Adidas secures the cancellation of a three-striped football-shaped bottle.

There are also cases from the UK, OHIM and the Court of First Instance. The IPKat says "Enjoy!" and reminds you to let him know if you come across any interesting cases that ought to be reported in the ETMR.


Managing Intellectual Property

The November 2005 issue of Euromoney's 10-times-a-year Managing Intellectual Property is full of interesting features. The cover story previews December's World Trade Organization's Sixth Ministerial Conference, which may determine the future direction of the IP/agriculture interface. Staff reporter Sam Mamoudi speculates on the rash of patent cases that might be spreading to the US Supreme Court next year. Also, a triumvirate of Osborne Clarke lawyers (Mark Finn, London; Konstantin Ewald, Cologne; Marie-Helene Lemaitre, Paris) review strategies open to IP owners whose European patent and trade mark rights are vulnerable to central attack.