Clément Monnet

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Guidance on Metaverse and NFTs trade marks

On June 23rd, 2022, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”) published its recommendations regarding the class to be opted for when applying for a trademark designating virtual goods, non-fungible tokens (“NFT(s)”) and other products displayed in metaverse. Considering the increase in the applications containing terms relating to virtual goods and NFTs, EUIPO’s clarifications simplify applicants burden … Continue reading

Trademark protection in France: distinctiveness may result from the addition of an ornamental sign to usual or descriptive language

In a judgment of 17 September 2021, the Paris Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of the validity of the semi-figurative trademark a descriptive verbal element .  The Judges highlighted in particular that, although the expression “vente privée” is a generic and usual designation of the services provided, the addition of a pink butterfly … Continue reading

An AI system cannot be « inventor » according to the EPO

On January 27, 2020, the European Patent Office (EPO) published the reasons for its decisions to reject two European patent applications[1] under which an artificial intelligence system, named “DABUS”, had been designated as the inventor. The applications[2] concerned two inventions created without human intervention: a beverage container based on fractal geometry and a device based on flickering … Continue reading

Focus on the reform of French trademark law following the transposition of the “Trademark Package”

Order n°2019-1169 of 13 November 2019 on goods and services marks, its implementing decree n°2019-1316 of 9 December 2019 and the Minister of the Economy and Finance and the Minister of Public Accounts decision of the same date on procedural fees of the French national institute of industrial property (INPI, the acronym for the original … Continue reading

The perilous legal protection of the shape of product

In its decision dated 24 October 2019 (Case T601/17, Rubik’s Brand/EUIPO – Simba Toys), the General Court of the European Union has confirmed the invalidity of the European Union’s three-dimensional trade mark “Rubik’s Cube”, which consists of the shape of the famous puzzle. The launch of a new product generally involves heavy investments (including marketing) … Continue reading

Is this really the end of the three-stripe trade mark ?

In its decision dated 19 June 2019 (Case T-307/17), the General Court of the European Union has confirmed the invalidity of Adidas’ European Union trade mark, which consists of three parallel equidistant parallel stripes of identical width applied on a product in any direction. Adidas, a world-renowned German company specializing in the manufacture and marketing … Continue reading

What lessons can be drawn from the approval of the Directive on Copyright in the digital single market ?

On Monday 15 April 2019, the Council of the EU formally approved the Directive on Copyright in the digital single market which was adopted by the European Parliament on Tuesday 26 March 2019. According to the European Commission, the objective of this Directive is to establish a global framework, within which intellectual creations, authors, content … Continue reading
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