Uncategorized

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 […]

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 […]

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). […]

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 […]