Around the IP blogs

This InternKat has been looking around… to bring you a round-up of recent posts from other IP blogs. Enjoy.

Literally... 

* MARQUES Class 46 reminds readers of the publication of the Final European Trade Mark Reports (ETMR) for 2016. Meanwhile, the Class 46 team highlight 4 very readable trade mark cases:

(1) The recent Finnish Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling on the likelihood of confusion between two figurative trade marks both entailing indication of half-price (in Finnish "½ hintaan"). The decision (in Finnish) can be read here.

(2) Craig Kelly summarizes the Judgement issued by the General Court of the European Union, in Tune v EUIPO, Case T-579/15 (Nov. 8).

(3) Is “+” a “plus” or a “cross”? See the post written by Mark Schweizer on the CONCEPT+ case in Switzerland. The decision can be found here (PDF, not final).

(4) Does “Caffe Nero” directly and obviously refer to the nature of the goods and of the services relating to the goods? Well, Google Translate seems to agree (this InternKat Googled the phrase and got a direct translation of “black coffee”), and so does the General Court… The judgements (one applicant, two cases) can be read here and here. 

* Former Guest Kat Mike Mireles wrote a post on IP finance about the EU tax reform announced by EU Commission and the Venture Capital fund, together with his “expectations” for Donald the President-elect. In the same blog, Anne Fairpo crossed her fingers on the new promises extracted from the UK Prime Minister’s speech to the Confederation of British Industry (Nov. 21st) about reviewing the IP incentive tax system.

* Another former Guest Kat, Stefano Barazza wrote a JIPLP Editorial discussing the future of IP in higher education. WIth regard to what has been missing in IP higher education and what needs to be done in the future, his in-depth analysis hits the spot. 

* What has happened in Latin America? On IP Tango, Patricia Covarrubia firstly writes about the alarming foreseen civil disturbances in Latin America caused by TPP (the Trans-Pacific Partnership) and TISA (the Trade in Services Agreement). Later, she welcomes the fee-reductions initiated by Ecuador's Intellectual Property Institute. This ever-productive writer also brings the news of the partnership between the Asociación Interamericana de Propiedad Intelectual (Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property) (ASIPI) and oriGIn (Organisation for an International Geographical Indications Network) to increase cooperation on Geographical Indications (GIs).

Photo courtesy of Ms. Ana Barbara Ribeiro Ramalho.