Around the IP Blogs

This Kat says Guten Tag

Last week in the IP blogosphere was especially good news for Germanophiles: catch up with the latest news and views below.

Copyright

The Kluwer Copyright Blog published a two-part comment on Germany's recently-published draft legislation for the implementation of Article 17 of the DSM Directive, including a discussion of whether it has struck the right balance in seeking to avoid over-blocking of content. (Part 1, Part 2)

Does embedding a social media post containing a photo (instead of licensing that photo) infringe copyright? The Fashion Law reported on a recent US case - involving Tom Ford lipstick, a photo on Cardi B's Instagram, XXL magazine, and the photographer who originally took the photo - in which the matter was determined to be fair use.

Patents

The CJEU's judgment in Case C-673/18 Santen to abolish SPCs for new therapeutic applications, following the Advocate General's recommendation to reverse its prior finding in Case C-130/11 Neurim, has attracted significant commentary, including from the Kluwer Patent Blog and - naturally - the SPC Blog.

Over on Comparative Patent Remedies, there was a discussion of the damages implications of the German Federal Supreme Court's Sisvel v. Haier judgment (discussed on the IPKat here) given the SEP/FRAND context.

JUVE Patent reported on the German Federal Supreme Court's decision to uphold Eli Lilly's pemetrexed patent (a judgment in parallel Dutch proceedings is anticipated), as well as the Düsseldorf Regional Court's decision to uphold Hanwha Q-Cells' solar technology patent infringement complaint.

Trade Marks

Many different US organisations use the phrase 'Black Lives Matter' to signal their support for the Black community, while no one can use it as a trade mark because the USPTO considers the phrase to be purely informational. The IP Watchdog gave an overview of the relevant principles non-profit organisations should bear in mind to avoid consumer confusion.

The Kluwer Trademark Blog discussed whether descriptive terms in languages which do not hold official EU language status might still be deemed to give rise to a likelihood of confusion where there is nevertheless a significant population in at least one EU Member State which speaks that language - whether that is Russian in Germany or the Baltic States, or the growing Chinese-speaking community.

Photo by halilibrahimctn from Pexels