FIRST APRIL NEWS

Good morning everyone. We hope April has been treating you well so far.

Supermac won the trade mark battle against Supermax

Supermac is a famous Irish fast-food chain that has now succeeded in blocking the trade mark registration of “Supermax” a London bar. Indeed, the UK IP Office considered that Supermax appears to be similar and sounds identical to “Supermac”. In addition, given that both offer food and drinks, there is a high possibility that consumers could actually be confused. This decision is still susceptible to be appealed before the Courts.

Kendall Jenner sued for copyright infringement

Angela was one of the many people waiting for Kendall outside the Balenciaga store in New York. When Kendall finished her shopping and finally came out, Angela filmed her waiving at the crowd and walking away. Angela uploaded her video on her Instagram but so did Kendall. After registering her video before the copyright office, Angela filed for copyright infringement before a federal court in LA on the basis that Kendall published the video without Angela’s permission. Angela is now seeking damages and profits, gains or advantages attributable to the infringement or statutory damages up to 150.000 $.

Trade mark win for DC Comics in Colombia

You have all heard of Flash, the superhero from DC comics which bears the lightning symbol on his chest which is considered characteristic of the character and, therefore, protected by copyright. Arnawa Col. Is the company that owns the brand “Visible”, a brand identified with a lightning symbol, in black and white, in a circle. DC Comics opposed to the trade mark registration of the symbol in Colombia based on the fact that Flash is known worldwide and identified because of his red outfit and the golden lightning symbol in a white circle on his chest. Even if the colour of both signs is different, the lightning Flash element is reproduced in its entirety with nothing else to distinguish the brand.

Coty Germany v. Amazon

On the 2nd of April, the CJEU issued a judgment clarifying whether a company which, on behalf of a third-party seller, stores goods which infringe trade mark rights, without being aware of that infringement, itself commits trade mark infringement.

The German company Coty, is a perfume company that holds an exclusive licence for the EU trade mark Davidoff. It claims that two Amazon group companies infringed its rights by storing and dispatching bottles of “Davidoff Hot Water” offered for sale by third-party sellers on Amazon-Marketplace (www.amazon.de) although those bottles were not put on the EU market with its consent.

That is all for this week! See you in a week!