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There are brands that have long since disappeared from our lives, but which had achieved such a level of notoriety that they remain in the collective imagination, or at least in the memories of the generations that knew them. Some of you will remember Mammouth® hypermarkets, which at the time still knew how to crush prices, Banga® dethroned and bought out by its competitor Oasis® or Raider®, the two-finger appetite suppressant, ancestor of Twix®. These brands may have left our shelves and disappeared from our cities, but they have permeated the brains of consumers, arousing the envy of some who […]

For the fourth year running, the European Commission is extending its “ideas powered for business” grant fund for SMEs from January 22, 2024 to December 6, 2024. The objective of this grant is to support European SMEs in the protection of their innovations by helping them to protect their inventions, trademarks and products through industrial property titles by taking charge of part of the official fees. The Fund is open to SMEs established in the European Union. The criteria to enter this category have been provided by the Commission (European Commission website). If you have already benefited from this grant […]

  Created in 2014 by prolific designer Sacha LAKIC, the iconic BUBBLE furniture line for Roche Bobois required the development of three-way stretch fabrics (Techno 3D) that perfectly embrace its round shapes. But it was its design that made it a commercial success. As its creator explains, this is the magic of design: “It acts like an irresistible attraction that is generated by a shape, by perfect proportions, by colors, materials, reflections and highly evocative lines“. Design has a direct impact on brand awareness and desirability, because “aesthetics is what you see first. […] I believe that the discovery of […]

✨ MARK & LAW team wishes you all the best for 2024! ✨

As we slowly slip into winter temperatures and cheese-based recipes reign supreme in our kitchens, three well-known Savoy cheese sectors (Raclette, Emmental, Tomme), grouped under a single entity, the Organisme de défense et gestion (ODG) Savoicime, are hoping to move from PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) to PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status. The aim is to improve the reputation and quality of these cheeses compared to the current PGI. An opportunity to look at the main differences between these two official signs, and the benefits for many producers. Raclette, Emmental and Tomme de Savoie are three cheeses that currently benefit […]

In a decision issued on October 18, 2023, the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) reiterates that the use of a competitor’s trademark for referencing purposes is acceptable, provided that it does not give rise to a risk of confusion for the consumer as to the results obtained. In this case, the company Aquarelle, owner of the eponymous trademark and specialized in the sale of flowers, noticed that a competitor was using the term “Aquarelle” via the AdWords referencing system. It should also be remembered that in the field of search engine optimization, case law has established that search engine […]

Coming soon: Black Friday and its Cyber Monday counterpart for online merchants, the high-tech products version, will take place on Friday November 24 and Monday November 27, 2023 (although these promotional offers on mass-market products often continue into the second half of November). Cyberpirates are already lying in ambush, and may have reserved domain names featuring your brand or company name to mislead your customers, who will order from these malicious sites without realizing that it’s not yours, and will receive either: – your counterfeit products – nothing (their payment will have been collected, or their bank details fraudulently reused). […]

A recent case highlights the problem of ownership of rights on packaging designed by advertising agencies (Paris Court of Appeal, April 14, 2023, no. 21-09.779). Following the end of their business relationship, a pharmaceutical company registered as a three-dimensional trademark the drug packaging it had ordered from a communications agency some ten years earlier. (European Union trademark filed on September 1st, 2005, No. 0855857) The communications agency then brought an infringement action, arguing that its copyright on the creation, i.e. the drug’s packaging, had been violated. However, the agency’s claim was rejected, as the originality of the packaging was ruled […]

The European Parliament has just adopted a regulation aimed at strengthening the protection of craft and industrial products bearing geographical indications within the European Union. Geographical indications are labels that designate products whose characteristics are closely linked to a geographical location where at least one stage of their production takes place. Geographical indications can be found on a wide range of products, from wines, spirits and foodstuffs to craft and industrial products. To illustrate the latter, let’s cite examples such as “Limoges Porcelain“, “Perpignan Garnet” and “Aubusson Rug” in France, or “Murano Glass” in Italy. Until now, craft and industrial […]

Spotlight on products that outshine their brands! A spa, a whirlpool… from the JACUZZI trademark (look at that little symbol ® at the end of the trademark, reminding us that it’s not a generic word… as the company’s recent press campaign also reminds us). Before becoming a benchmark in bubble wellness, it was the compassion and inventiveness of Candido JACUZZI in the 1940s that gave birth to a therapeutic hydrotherapy pump to relieve his grandson Kenneth of the incessant pain associated with his rheumatoid arthritis. The young man was thus able to maintain his mobility for many years. The company’s […]