NEW ETMR, MIP

European Trade Mark Reports

The April 2006 issue of Sweet & Maxwell's monthly European Trade Mark Reports has come out early, this being the fourth month in a row that the publisher has beaten the cover date (well done!). The eight cases reported in this issue include

* Union des Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA) trade mark (Bundesgerichtshof, Germany), on infringement of the figurative mark EURO 2000 for footballs and whether the defendant's use of the mark would be perceived as a trade mark use;

* IDOM v IDOM (Irish Patents Office), a curious opposition case involving identicality and similarity of conflicting figurative marks including the word IDOM (this deciaion disappeared from the Irish Patent Office website for a bit, but it has since reappeared here);

* Think Promotions v All England Lawn Tennis Club (OHIM Cancellation Division) on the validity of the WIMBLEDON trade mark for goods and services in various classes, given that the word is also a place name.

If you have any suggestions for exciting cases that should be reported in the ETMR, be sure to email the IPKat here and tell him.


Managing Intellectual Property

The March issue of Managing Intellectual Property is another envelope-buster, with 116 pages. It features, among many other things,

* a survey of blank media and recording machine levies in Europe, by Alexander Duisberg and Fabian Niemann (Bird & Bird);

* A neat analysis of current law on prior art as a destroyer of patent applications in the UK and Australia by Justin Watts (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer) and Peter Chalk (Blae Dawson Waldron);

* A review of the first four Comptrollers' Opinions on granted UK patents, by MIP editor James Nurton.

The IPKat says, if MIP gets much bigger, there won't be any time for IP lawyers to read any of its competitors ...