Never too Late: If you missed the IPKat last week!

 The past week on the IPKat has been a mix of different IP issues. Here we go!

Trade Marks

GuestKat Nedim Malovic reported and commented on a couple of EU trade mark decisions:-

·       The first is the decision (Case T-251/21 Tigercat Inc v EUIPO) of the EU General Court on the appeal in relation to the opposition against “Tigercat” filed by Caterpillar Inc. based on its earlier figurative EU trade mark for “Cat” and device (see here). 

·       The second decision Nedim reported on is the decision (Case R-197/2021-5) of the EU Board of Appeal on the registrability of a position mark, comprising of a tread and outer portion of a tyre in light grey (see here). 

On the oriental side, readers may recall that Bruce Lee Enterprises (the estate of the late well-known Chinese American martial artist Bruce Lee) filed a lawsuit against “Real Kungfu” fast-food chain for using Bruce Lee’s image without permission in Shanghai back in 2019.  InternKat James Kwong reported that the trial has recently begun.  For a refresher on this case, you can refer to James’ post here.  

Patents

SpecialKat Rose Hughes reported and commented on two Board of Appeal decisions:

·       T-0043/18, which concerns the European Patent Office’s approach to novelty for purity of compound inventions (see here).

·       T-1869/19, which relates to the patentability of a medical device defined in a patent according to its method of manufacture, in the form of a “product-by-process” claim (see here).

Copyright

A High Court in South Africa delivered a judgment holding that certain provisions of the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB)’s Code of Advertising Practice were unconstitutional.  This touched upon issues relating to the ARB’s power in relation to trade mark and copyright laws.  The Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa has recently ruled on the appeal brought by the ARB.  SpecialKat Chijioke Okorie reported on this here.    

Other

For the first time in Turkey, a court has rendered a decision on the issue of NFTs.  In particular, the Istanbul Third Civil Intellectual Property Court issued a preliminary injunction regarding NFTs.  The subject of the dispute pertained to the exploitation of the portrait of the late Cem Karaca, who was an artist, songwriter and composer with a legendary reputation in the world of Anatolian rock music.  Katfriends Mutlu Yıldırım Köse and Havva Yıldız have taken the opportunity to discuss this case here.

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) are a new type of quasi-corporate entities, existing with the use of blockchain and smart contracts.  Katfriend Marianna Ryan has written here on the topical issue of how DAOs are to be treated and what IP issues come with them.