Can a product protected by a design be invisible?

Rulings on design matters are rare enough to warrant attention. The Court of Justice of the European Union has recently had two opportunities to address design protection in the European Union: on February 16, 2023 in the C-472/21 ruling, and on March 2, 2023 in the C-684/21 ruling. I will focus here on the first […]

Trademark law and NFT: what should we think of Hermès v. Rotschild?

On January 14, 2022, Hermès International and Hermès of Paris, Inc. filed a trademark and unfair competition lawsuit against Mason Rotschild in the Southern District Court of New York (SDNY). One year later (already!), on February 8, 2023, a 9-member People’s Jury appointed by the SDNY dismissed the case. In essence, the facts were as […]

A butterfly like no other gives wings to the Supreme Court

On September 8, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in case 4A_158/2022 on the possibility of registering the word mark “Butterfly” in relation to bags, suitcases and other briefcases (class 18), clothing and shoes (class 25) and toys (class 28). I. The descriptive nature of the mark It should be remembered that under the terms of […]

Web3.0 domain names: the new danger for trademark holders

I. The domain name system At a time when the digital world has often become the gateway to the real world, the ownership of a domain name is now a must. Remember that each computer connected to the Internet is assigned an IP address, either temporarily or permanently. However, it is difficult to remember a […]

CEDIDAC’s Intellectual Property Half-Day

At a time when online platforms such as YouTube play a dominant role on the Net, legislators have adopted new laws to improve their fight against piracy. Success or failure? If you want to know more, come and listen to our experts this afternoon during the IP day set up by the CEDIDAC (Company Law […]

Metaverse: meta…what?

On October 28, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg announced the change of Facebook’s name to Meta, underlining on this occasion in a keynote speech the efforts that the group intends to devote to the Metaverse. Whether you love or hate Zuckerberg, his interest in the Metaverse means that you can’t dismiss this phenomenon out of hand. What […]

Should intellectual property owners believe in Santa Claus?

As the glorious period of Christmas trees and their garlands comes to an end, let’s dream for a few more moments about the magic of Christmas before turning to 2022, by evoking the one who is the most representative of it: Santa Claus. However, let’s look at it in a particular light, not from the […]

Art and NFTs: a question of copyright? really?

On November 17th, Quentin Tarantino was in the news; not because he had declared to give up his job as a director to turn to writing with the recent publication of “Once upon a time in Hollywood”, but for another reason: the sale of unpublished scenes from “Pulp Fiction” in the form of handwritten scripts, […]