Around the IP blogs

The first sound mark case has already reached Luxembourg and Intellectuals summarizes what has so far transpired in this case (mainly, the EUIPO BoA saying that a sound resembling that which can be heard when a can of carbonated drink is opened is not distinctive). 

WIPR reports a recent trade mark opposition case between the Catalan broadcaster “TV3” and the EU TM application “LaTV3D”. Last week, the General Court overturned the EUIPO decision to register “LaTV3D”, finding a likelihood of confusion for Class 38 “Telecommunication services”, but allowing the “LaTV3D” registration for “translation and interpretation”. 

The Fashion Law has updated its 2018 post on registering a single colour as a trademark. The usual robin’s egg blue and a certain shoe’s red sole are in the highlight!

While Tuesday is a little bit too early for an aperitivo, you can start the week reading about two Italian “APERITIVO” trade marks, brought to you by Marques. The main issue in the controversy: how wide is the scope of protection for trade marks with a low level of distinctiveness?

In the JIPLP blog, Heidi Härkönen advances her thoughts on how artificial intelligence is affecting the fashion industry. Because the copyright system rests on the existence of a human creator, AI-generated designs would not be eligible for IP protection and immediately fall into the public domain. This, in turn, might affect the fashion industry, relying on IP for protecting their latest trends. 

WIPR reports on a recent patent infringement case between Sonos and Google. The US International Trade Commission –responsible for patent and trade mark infringement cases involving goods being imported into to the US– will investigate alleged infringement of Sonos’ patents in smart speakers imported by Google, including in Google Chromecast Audio and Google Home. 

Comparative Patent Remedies shares with us not only the Guidelines for FRAND disputes, recently published by the Munich I Regional Court, but also a link to their unofficial English translation (since not all of us are germanophones).

Copyright

From across the pond, Eric Goldman reviews the recent Bell v. Chicago Cubs case regarding whether a retweet can be considered copyright infringement. Spoiler alert: it cannot; otherwise “the world will burn up in a fiery ball of copyright lawsuits against retweeters”, says the author.