Tag:consumer & retail

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A Lidl Decision With Big Implications – Court Of Appeal Edition
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Artistic Value May Prevent Protection of the Vespa Shape as a Trade Mark in Italy
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The Cloudy World of Look-a-Like Products – Aldi Successfully Defends Allegations of Trade Mark Infringement
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The Battle of the Bulls: NBA Fail to Invalidate Pizza Texas Bulls Trade Mark Similar to the Chicago Bulls Logo in the United Kingdom
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A Thorny Issue Resolved as “Flowers For All” Trade Mark Deemed Distinctive
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Burger Wars: The Big Beef Between McDonald’s and Hungry Jack’s–McD Asia Pacific LLC v. Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd [2023] FCA 1412
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UK Trade Mark and Design Reform Consultation
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Just Because the Court can, Doesn’t Mean it will: The Difficulty in Seeking to Avoid an Injunction Following a Finding of Copyright Infringement in the UK
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Registering NFTs and Virtual Goods in the UK
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Honey, I Lost the Trade Mark: MANUKA HONEY Declared not Exclusive to New Zealand

A Lidl Decision With Big Implications – Court Of Appeal Edition

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales upheld the previous judgment (see here) that Tesco Clubcard logos infringed Lidl’s trade marks and constituted passing off. Although it found that Tesco did not infringe Lidl’s copyright, it is time for Tesco to rebrand its Clubcard logo.

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Artistic Value May Prevent Protection of the Vespa Shape as a Trade Mark in Italy

The Italian Supreme Court recently issued a decision addressing whether the Vespa shape, already protected under copyright, was precluded from registration as a 3D mark. According to the Court, a shape’s artistic value usually confers substantial value which prohibits trade mark registration under Italian law.

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The Cloudy World of Look-a-Like Products – Aldi Successfully Defends Allegations of Trade Mark Infringement

Recently the High Court of Justice of England and Wales handed down its judgment in a trade mark infringement proceeding between Aldi v Thatcher’s that had been being watched by many.

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The Battle of the Bulls: NBA Fail to Invalidate Pizza Texas Bulls Trade Mark Similar to the Chicago Bulls Logo in the United Kingdom

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has lost the appeal of its invalidation action against a United Kingdom (UK) trade mark filed by Pizza Texas Bulls Inc (Pizza Bulls) in classes 30, 39, and 43 in NBA Properties Inc. v. Pizza Texas Bulls Inc [2023] EWHC 3040 (Ch). Interestingly, the NBA was successful in the European Union (EU) in relation to identical marks under Opposition No B3146352, and prevented the Pizza Bulls mark being registered in the EU.

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A Thorny Issue Resolved as “Flowers For All” Trade Mark Deemed Distinctive

Business blooms for one trade mark owner as “FLOWERS FOR ALL” has been deemed distinctive enough to be registered as a trade mark in Australia.

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Burger Wars: The Big Beef Between McDonald’s and Hungry Jack’s–McD Asia Pacific LLC v. Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd [2023] FCA 1412

In McD Asia Pacific LLC v. Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd [2023] FCA 1412, fast-food giant McDonald’s and Australian dinner-time rival Hungry Jack’s faced off in the Federal Court of Australia over their burger names BIG MAC vs BIG JACK and MEGA MAC vs MEGA JACK.

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UK Trade Mark and Design Reform Consultation

The UKIPO Transformation Programme

The UKIPO launched a transformation programme to modernise their trade mark and design services by the end of 2025. The aim is to replace their existing processes with a fully digitalised system in line with increased volume of work and customer demand.

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Just Because the Court can, Doesn’t Mean it will: The Difficulty in Seeking to Avoid an Injunction Following a Finding of Copyright Infringement in the UK

As reported previously in our blog post here, earlier this year the High Court of England and Wales found in Lidl’s favour regarding allegations of trade mark infringement, passing off and copyright infringement by Tesco. However, Tesco has suffered a further loss following a supplementary hearing focused on what the most appropriate form of relief was for copyright infringement (although it was agreed by the parties that Lidl was entitled to an injunction in light of findings of trade mark infringement and passing off).

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Registering NFTs and Virtual Goods in the UK

As we learned to appreciate over the past year or so, virtual goods are intangible assets that can be traded within a virtual economy, worth whatever participants in the virtual market are willing to pay for them. Though a type of virtual good, NFTs have their own unique definition, which can now be found in the Cambridge Dictionary:

An NFT is a unique unit of data (the only one existing of its type) that links to a particular piece of digital art, music, video etc. and that can be bought and sold.

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Honey, I Lost the Trade Mark: MANUKA HONEY Declared not Exclusive to New Zealand

An attempt to trade mark the term MANUKA HONEY in New Zealand has come to a sticky end. Assistant Commissioner of Trade Marks Natasha Alley found that the term MANUKA HONEY was descriptive of the goods it claimed and MHAS had “fallen short of establishing the necessary distinctiveness, both inherent and acquired”.1

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