Around the IP Blogs

The seemingly never-ending saga of the United Patent Court being challenged in Germany courts continues [see an earlier post by The IPKat here], this time with two new constitutional complaints filed against the UPC. Juve Patent has reported on this recent turn of events. 

Following Germany, Austria and the Netherlands [see one of the many IPKat’s posts on the issue], Finland has now made public its implementation proposal for Article 17 of the DSM Directive. Following a public hearing in this regard, which was held by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, Kluwer Copyright Blog prepared an extensive analysis of the Finnish draft bill. 

Following the transposition of Art. 45 the Trade Mark Directive (EU) 2015/2436 at the end of 2019, the French IP Office (INPI) acquired new competences with regard to revocation and declaration of invalidity of trade marks. Kluwer Trademark Blog reviewed the INPI’s first decisions on the matter.

Marques Blog reported on the rebranding of the Washington Redskins football team and Cleveland Indians baseball team. This rebranding falls within the broader discussion of whether similar signs are registerable as trade marks, despite being offensive to a part of the public. The question was answered in the affirmative by the US Supreme Court in Matal v Tam [see a dedicated IPKat post here]. The IPKat followed the issue with the Washington Redskins in its posts here and here. 

The IPTango Blog informed on the latest IP Roadmap published by the International Chamber of Commerce. The Roadmap covers current and emerging issues for business and policymakers, including those related to traditional IP rights, as well as big data, artificial intelligence, or traditional knowledge.