Never Too Late: If you missed the IPKat the past 2 weeks!

The IPKat has published several posts over the past two weeks! Here they are in case you missed them:

TRADE MARKS

Katfriend Marijus Dingilevskis posted on a recent decision of the Lithuanian Supreme Court, which states that even if a trade mark has been registered in the international register for 40 years, this is no guarantee that a subsequent national designation will be also registered.

GuestKat Becky Knott commented on the decision of the 2nd Board of Appeal in case R 609/2021-2 [Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft v European Flipper / Pinball Factory GmbH], which shows that it is possible to rely on 3D marks in the context of opposition proceedings. The Board of Appeal made the assessment based on the original distinctiveness of Volkswagen's marks.

PermaKat Eleonora Rosati posted about last week's General Court judgment on the partial invalidity of the shape mark of an icon of Italian fashion design and history: the Moon Boots.

DESIGNS

The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (OLG Düsseldorf) sent a referral to the CJEU (Case C-684/21) on the role of alternative designs in the examination of Article 8(1) of Regulation 6/2002. Background, analysis and comments are provided by GuestKat Anastasiia Kyrylenko.

GuestKat Anastasiia Kyrylenko commented on the recent decision of the Third Board of Appeal of the EUIPO (which has already been appealed to the General Court) on the issue of whether consumables should be considered as component parts of complex products within the meaning of Article 4(2) of Regulation 6/2002.

COPYRIGHT

Katfriend Moritz Sutterer posted on a new competition tool that the German Competition Authority recently tried out against Google in relation to press publishers' neighbouring right.

PermaKat Neil Wilkof commented on the reproduction of the work of art "Detail from the Portrait of Eugénie-Pamela Larivière" (which is in the public domain) by Louis Larivière in the Louvre, Paris" on a book cover. The author gave food for thought on the reproduction of works of art on book covers, on possible moral rights in the discussion, and on Walter Benjamin's notion of the "aura" of a work.

DATABASE RIGHTS

GuestKat Jan Jacobi reported on a recent case of the Dutch (District) Court of Midden-Nederland, concerning whether database rights can be invoked to prevent third parties from reusing and offering data from the National Business Register.

PATENTS

GuestKat Rose Hughes reported on a decision by the Court of Appeal of the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in the life science field on a dosage regime claim.

GuestKat Frantzeska Papadopoulou announced the entry into force of the Protocol on the Provisional Application of the Unified Patent Court Agreement, marking the actual birth of the Unitary Patent Court.

PermaKat Annsley Merelle Ward commented on a series of German injunctions (on the merits) recently issued by the Duesseldorf Regional Court regarding generic versions of Novartis' Afinitor (everolimus).

GuestKat Rose Hughes commented on a patent related to combination claims at the EPO, which is the subject of the recent referral to the CJEU on the interpretation of the Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) Regulation for medicinal products.

OTHER

GuestKat Gabriele Girardello commented on an order issued by the Court of Milan on an urgent 'Declaration of Non-Infringement' ('DNI'), which allows individuals and entities in Italy to know in advance whether or not one of their products could be considered an infringement of a competitor's intellectual property rights.

SpecialKat Hayleigh Bosher reviewed "Performers' Rights" by the Rt Hon Sir Richard Arnold, Judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The book addresses the rights of performers, particularly the rights conferred under Part II of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended), and also addresses other forms of protection and remedies for performers, such as moral rights, contracts, passing off and copyright infringement.

Reminder: last call to vote for your best IP book of 2021 by participating in the poll here! Voting closes at midnight on January 31, 2022, and winners will be announced thereafter.