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

If you've been so busy this week that you're having kittens, here's the summary of the IP news you missed:

Trade Marks and GIs

Having kittens.
Image from kieutruongphoto via Pixabay.

Anastasiia Kyrylenko informed readers that the European Parliament adopted the new Regulation on geographical indications (GIs) for wines, spirit drinks and agricultural products. It consolidates the different categories of products into a single regulation, unlike the former system of having separate legal acts for each product category. Amongst several other changes, the EUIPO will take on some administrative functions (but will not have a role in examination, which it does for craft and industrial products).

Marcel Pemsel discussed the recent case of bonnanwalt v EUIPO (Case C-580/22), which addressed the meaning of a "lawyer" under EU law, for the purposes of representation at the CJEU. The case focused on the fact that bonnanwalt's lawyer was the sole employee of a law firm owned and managed by bonnanwalt's managing director, raising the issue that the lawyer was not sufficiently independent from their client. Rather surprisingly, the CJEU considered that there was nevertheless a lack of a direct relationship between the lawyer and bonnanwalt, so the lawyer was not acting under the control of the managing director of bonnanwalt.

Kevin Bercimuelle-Chamot analysed a recent decision of the Tribunal Judiciaire of Paris in a dispute concerning both copyright and trade mark infringement. The organiser of televised motor sport events called "Monster Jam" owned the trade mark "El TORO LOCO", and brought an action against another show that featured a monster truck named “EI TORO Del FUEGO”. The Tribunal held that there was both trade mark and copyright infringement.

Anna Maria Stein outlined the findings of the UKIPO's report on “The impact of complicit social media influencers on male’s consumption of counterfeit goods in the UK.” The report was released just a few days after the European Commission published the results of an investigation into online influencers and the lack of transparency of the promotional content of their messages.

 

Copyright and Designs

Alessandro Cerri reported on the recent decision of the Court of Appeal of England & Wales, which upheld the design infringement claim brought by Marks and Spencer (M&S) against Aldi over its look-alike range of gin-based flavoured liqueurs. He wonders whether this outcome will prompt retailers to shift their IP strategy towards more design protection for their products. 

Chijioke Okorie updated readers on the progress of the South African Copyright Amendment Bill., which was passed by the National Council of Provinces with amendments to align the Bill with certain constitutional provisions. In particular, the amendments addressed the issues raised in Blind SA v Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition about access to copyright works for persons with disabilities.

Katfriends Monica Thornell and Jonathan Coote discussed the latest in the Redding and Mitchell v Sony Music case about the copyright and performers’ rights in the iconic recordings made by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (JHE), which will be going to trial in the High Court of England & Wales. Sony had applied for summary judgment, but the claimants successfully argued that various issues needed to be fleshed out at trial, including the question about whether an initial consent to the first fixation extends to the exploitation of recordings via drastically different technology (i.e. digital streaming).

Hayleigh Bosher reviewed the book, Music Borrowing and Copyright Law, a Genre-by-Genre Analysis, edited by Enrico Bonadio and Chen Wei Zhu. The volume brings together contributions from academics, musicologists, and lawyers to offer some answers to the question, “how can the law better align with the expectations of musicians with the structures of copyright?”