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Trade Mark News Bites
It’s time for some trade mark stories that have caught our attention recently – from misleading invoices to “trademark patents” (What are they?) and audio trade marks in China.
Trade Mark News Bites
From the the iWatch to the Super Bowl, here’s a collection of trade mark related news stories that have caught our eye in the last couple of weeks.
Eleven of Hearts – Bale’s Trade Mark
Following in the footsteps of other world-class footballers wishing to take advantage of the growing commercialisation of football (or “soccer” for our American friends), Gareth Bale has applied to register his famous heart-shaped goal celebration as a trade mark at the UK Intellectual Property Office. Details of Bale’s application for the word mark ELEVEN OF HEARTS can be found here, while the application for the logo can be found here.
With either a big-money transfer to the King of Spain’s Real Madrid or a large contract-extension in the pipeline, the Tottenham Hotspurs’ Number 11 could be forgiven for rolling over on his bed of £50 notes and going back to sleep. However, given that the average footballer’s career spans around fifteen years, IPcopy would not be surprised to see more and more footballers bringing out their own branded football boots (like Ronaldo’s R9 or Cristiano Ronaldo’s CR7 boots, both released in partnership with Nike) or tiny briefs (à la David Beckham).
As for choosing which trade mark to protect, they would have to go some way to beat the imagination of NBA player Anthony Davis, who spent part of his first pay-check obtaining trade mark protection (“FEAR THE BROW!”) for his prominent uni-brow – check out the brow in his headshot here!
Nick Bowie 18 June 2013
Trade Mark and Carry On (Posters, Trade Marks & the Tardis)
“Trade mark and carry on” is a slogan to bear in mind because, as the following cases illustrate, people often think a name, slogan or even a police box are free to use.
We see a good example with the famous slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On”, which was thought to be owned by the British government. Indeed, “Keep Calm and Carry On” was one of a series of propaganda posters made by the British government during World War 2 to reassure the population, a fact which remained unknown to the public for over half a century. In the early 2000s, a couple (named Manley) who owned the Britsh bookshop “Barter Books” rediscovered the posters in a box of old books.When the booksellers decided to display it in their library, it became very popular. The “Keep Calm” poster was exported worldwide and became one of the first really emblematic images of the 21st century.
Trade Mark News Bites
From the Man of Steel to Polish pretzels, perfume to cigarette packaging, here’s a collection of trade mark related news stories that have caught our eye in the last week.
Trade Mark Review: Beer and the Bard
The trade mark case review below was prepared by Charlotte Blakey (Keltie LLP) and highlights the importance of demonstrating “genuine use”/”proper reasons for non-use”.
This review relates to an appeal brought under Section 76 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 (“the Act”) by the registered proprietor (“Jackson”) of International Registration No. 787794 ROYAL SHAKESPEARE (“the Mark”) against the decision issued at BL O-369-11, dated 26 October 2011. This decision stated that the Mark’s protection in the UK should be revoked on the grounds of non-use under section 46(1)(a) and/or 46(1)(b) of the Act. The Hearing Officer held that there had been no genuine use of the Mark during the relevant periods, nor had there been proper reasons for such non-use.
Trade Mark Tribunal – Fast Track Opposition Procedure at the UKIPO
In a recent post we looked at a consultation from the UKIPO which was proposing superfast patent processing. That’s not the only consultation that is running at the UKIPO and there is a further one entitled “Fast Track Opposition Procedure. Trade Mark Tribunal”. This consultation is running until 17 May 2013 and seeks the views of users and potential users of the UK national registration system about the introduction of a lower cost “fast track” opposition based on earlier registered or pending marks.
As noted in the consultation a fast track opposition process may differ from the existing procedures in a number of ways, namely:
- Lower opposition fee
- Grounds limited to s.5(1)/5(2)
- Limit to the number of earlier marks that can be relied upon
- If over 5 years old, proof of use to be filed with the notice of opposition using a pro-forma statement with exhibits
- Leave required for either party to file any further evidence
- Decisions normally from the papers
- Introduction of refundable appeal fee large enough to discourage frivolous appeals
The full reasoning behind the above proposals can be found in the consultation document but a few issues with the proposals, as highlighted by our trade mark team, are noted below:
IP – Hit or Miss? Why Tony Stark might want to reconsider Pepper Potts as CEO
In the film Iron Man 2, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) gets into an argument with his friend Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) who, after a bout of CGI enhanced fighting, makes off with one of his Iron Man suits.
Shortly after this, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) who is CEO of Stark Industries is seen berating someone on the telephone about the suit that has gone missing. During the call she says the following (as near as I recall):
“Illegal seizure of trademarked property”
and
“Don’t tell me we have the best patent lawyers in the country and then not pursue this”
So, what’s wrong with these statements? (Other than the fact I picked up on them and thought to write an article about it!).
ICANN & the Trademark Clearinghouse – relief for trade mark owners
The launch of new generic Internet domain extensions highly expands the domain name system and increases competition.
The press has widely reported the launch of the new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) which can include a geographic location (e.g. NYC), a generic term (e.g. Music) or a mark (Ralphlauren). Nearly 2000 applications should be added this year to the currently available gTLDs (.com, .net) and country code top-level domains (ccTLDs, e.g. geographical location .uk, .eu). The examination of hundreds of candidates revealed last year (see article in the Figaro blog here) the avid appetite of Amazon and Google for new extensions who spent millions to request 101 and 76 Internet extensions respectively revolving around digital content and media issues.
This is considered one of the most important changes in the structure of the Internet for years. A symbiosis has to be found to regulate the protection of trade mark owners and their Intellectual Property rights.
In this respect, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is responsible for the management of the top-level domain name space, has established a rights protection system through the creation of a database, called the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), for names that are the subject of a prior registration. The Trademark Clearinghouse has been available since 26 March.
Proposed Legislation- Modernisation of the European Trade Mark System
Proposals for reformed legislation, which have been drafted in order to help modernise and further synchronise the European Trade Mark system, have surfaced on the web. The European Commission has indicated that the reform package will ‘foster innovation and economic growth’ throughout the EU as well as ‘ensure coexistence and complementarity’ throughout the trade mark systems. Further, the European Commission has stated that the reform ‘will be beneficial for applicants and owners of both the Community Trade Marks (‘CTMs’) and national trade marks’ by increasing the efficiency of the EU internal market. Further, regardless of the size, market and geographical influence of an entity, the proposals will aim to create a more level playing field.
Once the proposals have been adopted (potentially Spring 2014) the Commission advise that EU countries will have to implement the new rules of the Directive into national law within two years. With regard to the Regulation, most amendments will become effective when it is enforced. However, the Fees Regulation will require prior authorisation by the Committee on OHIM fees with the aim of adopting it before the end of 2013. Below is an overview of some of the proposals. Please note that these proposals are not official.
IPcopy 
