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Design of Hermès’ iconic Birkin and Kelly bags held to con...Nov 25 2024Design of Hermès’ iconic Birkin and Kelly bags held to constitute “trade dress with a certain influence”Hermès is a prestigious French luxury fashion house founded in 1937, with ladies’ handbags being one of the best-selling products of the company. The trade dress of the Kelly and Birkin handbags, as...Nov 25 2024 -
DEL MONTE FOODS successfully blocks the registration of a se...Nov 15 2024DEL MONTE FOODS successfully blocks the registration of a seemingly dissimilar copycat mark (2024)Del Monte Foods is a leading American food production and distribution company based in California. It is known for its popular brands like Del Monte, S&W, and Contadina. The company was founded in 18...Nov 15 2024 -
DEL MONTE FOODS successfully blocks the registration of a se...Nov 06 2024DEL MONTE FOODS successfully blocks the registration of a seemingly dissimilar copycat markDel Monte Foods is a leading American food production and distribution company based in California. It is known for its popular brands like Del Monte, S&W, and Contadina. The company was founded in 18...Nov 06 2024 -
Heidelberg Materials AG successfully obtains registration of...Sept 09 2024Heidelberg Materials AG successfully obtains registration of HEIDELBERG MATERIALSYang Mingming, 09 September 2024, first published by WTR• Registering a mark with a geographical name component may be quite challenging in China• A letter of consent from a municipal government may s...Sept 09 2024 -
Xiaomi’s voice-activation command prompt awarded protection...June 19 2024Xiaomi’s voice-activation command prompt awarded protection in precedent-setting trademark disputeIn July 2017, Xiaomi launched a smart speaker with a voice activation command prompt (VACP) called ‘小爱同学’ (Xiao Ai Tong Xue), which later became the name of its AI-powered voice-interaction prod...June 19 2024 -
Lacoste v Cartelo: a landmark case clarifying the rules on c...May 17 2024Lacoste v Cartelo: a landmark case clarifying the rules on confusion and co-existence (2024)The dispute between Lacoste and Cartelo, which has spanned over two decades and involved multiple court cases, has come to a new stage. Lacoste, a globally recognised brand known for its iconic right-...May 17 2024 -
New foreign GI regulations take effect in China, with some c...Feb 01 2024New foreign GI regulations take effect in China, with some contradictionsOn 1 February 2024, two regulations issued by the China National IP Administration (CNIPA) on 29 December 2023 will enter into effect. The regulations provide details on the registration, administrati...Feb 01 2024 -
Supreme Court awards New Balance Rmb 30 million in damages i...Feb 01 2024Supreme Court awards New Balance Rmb 30 million in damages in dispute with infringer (2024)On 26 September 2023 the Supreme People's Court of China issued a final judgment finding that Jiangxi Xinbailun Lingpao Sporting Goods Co Ltd and Guangzhou Xinbailun Lingpao Sporting Goods Co Ltd (col...Feb 01 2024 -
Supreme Court awards New Balance Rmb30 million in damages in...Feb 01 2024Supreme Court awards New Balance Rmb30 million in damages in dispute with infringerOn 26 September 2023 the Supreme People's Court of China issued a final judgment finding that Jiangxi Xinbailun Lingpao Sporting Goods Co Ltd and Guangzhou Xinbailun Lingpao Sporting Goods Co Ltd (col...Feb 01 2024 -
Hubei High Court upholds 10-million yuan damages award to Mi...Dec 13 2023Hubei High Court upholds 10-million yuan damages award to Michelin for misuse of Cantonese nameOn 8 November 2023 the Hubei High Court issued a judgment in the long-running Michelin saga, upholding the first-instance decision and clarifying some interesting aspects about well-known status of tr...Dec 13 2023 -
Chinese courts sanction Ford’s misuse of ‘Cognac’ on auto...Dec 07 2023Chinese courts sanction Ford’s misuse of ‘Cognac’ on automobilesThe dispute involved the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC) - the French organisation responsible for promoting and safeguarding the geographical indication (GI) ‘Cognac’ - and the ...Dec 07 2023 -
Michelin dispute sheds light on when similar trade names con...Nov 22 2023Michelin dispute sheds light on when similar trade names constitute unfair competitionThe Zhejiang High Court has upheld a first-instance decision that determined infringing use of a trade name that constituted unfair competition. The word ‘Michelin’, which is the name of a French co...Nov 22 2023