|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Intellectual Property: The ECJ Extends the Use of Trade Marks to Goods and Services
The European Court of Justice ("ECJ") ruled in Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte (C 418/02) that a trade mark that is now in use by a company on its goods can be extended to cover the services provided by this company. A DIY retailer Praktiker Märkte, filed for registration with the Deutsches Patent und Markenamt (the German Patent and Trade Mark Office) of the mark PRAKTIKER in respect of the slogan 'retail trade in building, home improvement and gardening goods for the do-it-yourself sector.' However the German Patent Office refused registration of this slogan on the grounds that the concept of 'retail trade' did not denote independent services having autonomous economic significance. Praktiker Märkte brought an appeal before the Bundespatentgericht (Federal Patents Court) against the rejection of its application. The company argued that the economic trend towards a service society necessitated a re-appraisal of retail trade as a service. The consumer's purchasing decision would increasingly be influenced not only by the availability and price of a product, but also by other aspects such as the variety and assortment of goods, their presentation, the service provided by staff, advertising, image and the location of the store, etc. Such services provided in connection with retail trade enabled retailers to be distinguishable from their competitors. They further argued that such services ought to be eligible for protection by service marks. The case was referred to the ECJ who concluded that:- Retail services should be registered as trade marks if the services differ from the goods under which the trade mark is sold; and The contents of the services provided by the retailer must be specified so as to enable consumers to know in concrete terms (1) what the service consists of (expressions such as "retail trading" or "retail services" are not explicit enough) and (2) what goods or types of goods the services relates to. Comment: This is a significant decision for trade mark owners. If you require further information contact us. Email: enquiries@rtcoopers.com © RT COOPERS, 2005. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances. Intellectual property law firm advising on patents, trade marks, copyright, designs, pharmaceutical law, biotechnology law, patent attorneys, patent lawyers, copyright, know-how, trade marks, trademarks, copyright solicitor, copyright law, IP lawyers, IP law Firm, IP valuations, IP solicitors, freedom to operate copyright lawyers, patent solicitors, branding,intellectual property lawyers, intellectual property solicitors. For any further information, emailus at enquiries@rtcoopers.com. Visit our website at http://www.rtcoopers.com
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Look! America Take a Look! I heard on the news this week how America continues to battle to bring democracy in Iraq. The people of Iraq really don't seem to want a free country governed by their own people. Hmm, why don't the Iraqis want the precious gift of democracy? Well, I request all Americans to take a good look at our own democracy and then maybe we can understand what all the fighting is about, okay. Mother Russia and Poland When Boris Yeltsin spoke about an experiment that 'they' wrought upon his Russian 'brethren' on June 1st, 1991; did anyone ask who THEY were? Here is what he said: Battling Societys Cancer: Unemployment The official figures are staggering: 35% of the workforce - about 280,000 people - are unemployed and looking for a job. Each 1.43 employee support 1 unemployed person. In the USA the figure is 3.3 to 4 employees supporting all the unemployed AND all the pensioners! Maryland State Legislator wants to kill jobs and small business Last year a Maryland State Legislator whom I presume never owned a small business of any type suggested that franchises in the state needed to be audited every year. This would be every fast food restaurant, small business service van franchise or dog groomer in the state, which was a franchised outlet. The average cost of such audits in Maryland due to all the Maryland lawyers suing is about $40,000. Now obviously this would kill small businesses in the state and cause the raising of prices to all consumers who bought a burger, got a hair cut or had their dogs groomed and the small businesses would have to pass the costs on. We were able to get that asinine proposed bill killed in committee. What kind of a moron could come up with a bill? Well believe it or not such bills pop up all time around our country. One such bill is the Sarbaines Oxley bill, yep came from another Merry Lander Senator Sarbaines who probably sees his ignorant mistake and is NOT running for re-election. Here is the letter we rifled to every legislator in that state, to hell with these folks who propose such potentially damaging blows to our small business community. Here is an excerpt: All There is, is dust in the wind; Dust Particulate Traveling The Globe Dust from Deserts and Particulate Control Nurturing Global Disequilibrium This brings to our consciousness, issues concerning the ever rising level of inequality prevalent in our times with its attendant fallout and imbalance within our global system. Tracking Over The Road Trucks from Canada Are you happy with all this so-called security after 9-11? Are you like most Americans I have talked with okay with the color thing and High Security Alert Colors and although the media really gets on your nerves and you feel like you are living in a scene of "The Boy who Cried Wolf" most say there are some rather obvious things they have seen which are just dumb. For instance the other day I saw four guys get out of a semi truck at a truck stop to fuel up and then go park. They were middle easterners and their truck was from Quebec headed South West on the I-80 Highway. Yet this was unusual in that team drivers are usually two people. Not four? Why Four? Were the extra people sneaking into the country? Middle Easterners who come to Canada usually get jobs like taxi drivers, truck drivers, warehouse people, etc. I understand that, those coming to the country with few assets have to start somewhere in our land of opportunity, right? Yet we have pretty open borders in many places and I see 15 trucks every fifteen minutes at nearly every border crossing I have been too from Canada to the USA. Business: ?Where Is America Headed To??, New York Millionaire Wonders Hello! Happy new year. May you live a long healthy life and prosper. Al-Qaida has Nukes Many believe Al-Qaida already has nukes in the United States and there is substantial reason to believe that they are nearly in place now. But how were they able to get them here in the first place? Thru our porous borders with Mexico, but did the International Terrorists have the bombs smuggled across Mexico border by MS-13 gangsters? An organization, which is growing at 200 new members per week with over an estimated 10,000 current members, sounds scary doesn't it? This is why Department of Homeland Security is so worried and you should be too. It might be a good idea to stock up on potassium iodide for your family's medicine cabinet now. It is not hard to get and not too expensive, but one would have to wager that supplies would run out fast in the case of a nuclear detonation or many simultaneous detonations at once. One large nuclear weapon strategically placed in a high-density area could kill millions of Americans. Lost and Found in Gaza The evacuation of Gaza is now completed, and the world has been watching closely. As a proud member of the Jewish People, I have nothing but admiration for the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, for the humane way they carried out this most difficult military assignment. Most soldiers train to fight against their enemies; the Israeli army was specially trained to evacuate their own families, friends, and sometimes even their own rabbis and teachers. In fact, there was nothing easy about this assignment; according to the NY Times, an Arab reporter on the scene asked his anchor in Dubai, "Did you see the soldiers crying?" Yes, we all saw the soldiers crying and anyone with a heart and soul had to be moved by their compassion coupled with their calm discipline under exceedingly trying conditions. More tears were shed than blood, and that speaks volumes about the talent and the humanity of the Israeli Defense Forces. Cloaking Giant Airships is Possible, Why Stop There? We know we can cloak a giant airship from those looking up at it by simply using a video to tape what is above it and then display that on the bottom of the blimp. Those looking up at it will see not see a blimp but rather the sky above displayed like a giant flat movie screen which has been curved around the bottom of the blimp. Showing on the screen will not be Goodyear, Fuji, Budweiser or buy GM. It will be an exact picture image of the clouds, sky or stars directly above the airship. This technology exists now and has been tested, the technology is not so difficult or complicated, and it is relatively simple and easy to understand. Discount Cigarettes and Cheap Tobacco from Europe to the UK It never fails to amaze me. HM Customs and Excise are at it again, stopping everyone in this country from getting the bargains that we are entitled to. The cost of running the country might in fact be out with the Governments budget, but do we have to pay the deficit? How to Deal with Poverty A SOLUTION FOR EMPLOYMENT PROBLEMS TO AID IN THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY What Is The Filibuster All About? The filibuster has been a tool available to U.S. Senators during Senate floor discussions on legislation and appointments since the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have valued the filibuster as a means to bring compromise and bipartisanship to bitter and divisive debates. Should Farmers Plant GM Terminator Seeds? If a farmer plants the same crop three seasons in a row he might like to have the non-terminating, but if he plants winter wheat and regular wheat he gets paid by the purity as part of his yield and therefore, would prefer the terminating, having no left over seeds growing within his ranks. Also he can plant GM one year when needed for Ethanol and then another type later for another purpose. Which means it is a very good thing not to mix and this solves a need of the market, purity of product and higher prices paid to the farmer (who is leveraged on the commodity side also so he is downside protected in case of poor yields that season), it ain't easy being a farmer these days. Farming is a tough row to hoe these days nearly 50% of the family farmers in the US were unable to make it in the couple of decades, it is a travesty. Patriots and Parrots: Imprisoning Tongues in America It can be dangerous to engage in free speech. This year alone, 242 journalists, in countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, have been tossed into jail for their words, and one has been killed. Regulatory Hooey Protects Us From Our Own Health Legislation is getting legs to further curtail your use of nutritional supplements. Not too long ago, prior to passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) ? which was accomplished by millions of letters to legislators by people like you ? the FDA acted like a Gestapo against supplements, manufacturers and professional advocates. They would raid at gunpoint the medical offices of doctors advocating the merits of nutritional supplements, shut down manufacturers, harass stores, confiscate products and prevent education of the public on nutritional labels. You know, because so many people were dying of supplements like Coenzyme Q-10 and herbs like the natural sweetener stevia. The Pilgrims and Beacon Hill Mob In 1966, Dr. Carroll Quigley, a professor of history at the Foreign Service School of Georgetown University and an employee of the Tri-Lateral Commission who informed or blew the whistle on them; published a 1311 page book called Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time. On page 950 he says: "There does exist, and has existed for a generation, an international Anglophile network which operates, to some extent, in the way the radical Right believes the Communists act. In fact, this network, which we may identify as the Round Table Groups, has no aversion to cooperating with the Communists, or any other groups, and frequently does so. I know of the operations of this network because I have studied it for twenty years and was permitted for two years, in the early 1960's, to examine its papers and secret records. I have no aversion to it or to most of its aims and have, for much of my life, been close to it and to many of its instruments... my chief difference of opinion is that it wishes to remain unknown, and I believe its role in history is significant enough to be known... because the American branch of this organization (sometimes called the "Eastern Establishment") has played a very significant role in the history of the United States in the last generation." Fury and Sound as GM Seeds Abound We have all heard of the huge debates surrounding genetically modified crops. Yet we also have all seen the advertising to sponsor a child in the third world. Now the GM crop debate has erupted on other continents and smaller groups are raising cane. In Brazil in particular has some harsh words on the issue from at least one critic. Government Backed Fraud in Academia Contrary to the Hobbesian prediction of anarchy (freedom) and brutish or unproductive results in the event that elites (often termed 'beneficent paternalism') aren't fostered: we find lots of evidence that team play and open organizational structure actually creates more civilized and productive governance. Lincoln Electric in Cleveland is a well-documented example of how sharing the wealth and responsibility builds communication and profit. A Brazilian city named Porto Allegro that opened itself to citizen involvement and socialist ideals is flourishing as corruption wanes. It was predicted they would fail financially but more than a decade of good results has been the outcome. Singapore reduces government as a percentage of GDP and is fully modernized. Instead of 'expertise' being the solution, it might well be these technocrats in bureaucracies are the problem.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
