The public legal dispute between luxury brand Chanel and luxury reseller What Goes Around Comes Around (“WGACA”) continues with Chanel seeking a permanent injunction that WGACA argues is too broad. As previously reported, a New York jury previously awarded Chanel a US$4 million verdict against WGACA for sales of counterfeit Chanel-branded products Chanel, Inc. v. What Goes Around Comes Around, LLC, et al., 1:18-cv-02253 (SDNY).  Chanel now seeks a permanent injunction to bar WGACA from using Chanel trademarks to advertise Chanel branded products that have not been authorized for sale by C ..read more

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales upheld the previous judgment (see here) that Tesco Clubcard logos infringed Lidl’s trade marks and constituted passing off. Although it found that Tesco did not infringe Lidl’s copyright, it is time for Tesco to rebrand its Clubcard logo. (Lidl’s marks) (Tesco’s logos) Summary of the Appeal The appeal focused on the following grounds: Trade mark infringement and passing off: Tesco’s argues that the first instance’s judge erred to conclude that the average consumer seeing the Tesco Clubcard signs would believe that the advertised prices were being “pric ..read more

Imagine receiving a call from a friend asking about a new money-making opportunity you just posted on your social media account. Only, you did not post it. This is a story that many social media users face as the number of hacked social media accounts continues to rise. In a letter dated March 5 2024, 41 state Attorney Generals wrote Meta Platforms Inc. highlighting a significant rise in the number of hacked accounts being reported to their offices, (noting increases from 2022 to 2023: 730% increase in Vermont; 330% increase in North Carolina; 256% increase in Illinois; and 270% increase in Pe ..read more

The Italian Supreme Court recently issued a decision addressing whether the Vespa shape, already protected under copyright, was precluded from registration as a 3D mark. According to the Court, a shape’s artistic value usually confers substantial value which prohibits trade mark registration under Italian law. Background It began in 2014 as a classic case of trade mark infringement of an iconic Italian trade mark, the Vespa shape, by a Chinese company. The validity of Piaggio’s Italian 3D trade mark for the Vespa shape, was challenged. In 2017, the Court of First Instance of Turin dismissed th ..read more

In a recent update to a lengthy battle over car parking technology used by the City of Melbourne, SARB Management Group Pty Ltd (SARB) has scored a partial win over rival company Vehicle Monitoring Systems (VMS) on appeal in Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia.  At trial (Vehicle Monitoring Systems Pty Ltd v SARB Management Group [2023] FCA 182), Besanko J found that three versions of SARB’s parking overstay detection system infringed two VMS patents and that SARB’s invalidity challenges to those patents failed on all grounds. On appeal, SARB challenged the finding that the third ..read more

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued what it labeled as Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions [Docket No. PTO-P-2023-0043].1 Despite its name, the document provides little in the way of certainty that one could not garner from reviewing recent precedent addressing the issue of artificial intelligence (AI) inventions. To begin with, the USPTO warns that its “guidance does not constitute substantive rulemaking and does not have the force and effect of law.”2 Rather, “[t]he guidance sets out agency policy with respect to the USPTO’s interpretation of the inventors ..read more

In January 2024, UNIQLO CO., LTD. (UNIQLO) announced that it had filed a lawsuit before the Tokyo District Court against Roadget Business Pte. Ltd., Fashion Choice Pte. Ltd., and SHEIN Japan Co., Ltd. (collectively, SHEIN Parties). UNIQLO alleges that the SHEIN Parties have infringed Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act by selling dupes of UNIQLO’s popular round mini shoulder bag, which went viral on TikTok last year due to its minimalistic, water-repellent exterior and ability to hold a surprisingly large volume of products for its size. UNIQLO is demanding that the SHEIN parties cease s ..read more

An initiative to create a voluntary code of practice on copyright and Generative AI (“Gen AI”) has failed to reach an agreement. The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), who led the conversations that started mid-2023, has not been able to reach consensus within the working group in relation to the use of copyright protected works to train Gen AI models. The announcement is a disappointment to many including the creative industry, who were awaiting clarification on their position in protecting their works and retrieving compensation, and technology industry who were seeking clarity how fut ..read more

Recently the High Court of Justice of England and Wales handed down its judgment in a trade mark infringement proceeding between Aldi v Thatcher’s that had been being watched by many. Thatchers had sued Aldi for trade mark infringement and passing off over claims that the supermarket’s Taurus lemonade brand was a copycat of its Cloudy Lemon Cider in both taste and appearance (see below). The case had been closely followed by many brand owners who are becoming increasingly concerned by the potential damage to their brands by look-a-like products. However, as Aldi was ultimately successful in i ..read more

On January 26, 2024, a federal jury in Los Angeles handed down its verdict in one of the first copyright infringement cases to grapple with fair use after the Supreme Court’s 2023 Warhol decision.1 The trial concerned a dispute over a tattoo inked by Katherine Von Drachenberg (known as Kat Von D), and related social media posts. In the Kat Von D case, plaintiff Jeffrey Sedlik argued the tattoo and posts infringed upon his copyright in a photograph of jazz musician Miles Davis that was indisputably utilized to create the tattoo and featured in one of the posts. Emphasizing the case-sp ..read more