Blog
‘Hot news’: can news be protected?
Exclusives, scoops, breaking news… Being the first to inform is undoubtedly important for the media. However, once a news item has been disclosed it can lose all its value: is it possible to prevent a third party from reporting on those same events? Observations on the value of information abound. The most popular is that […]
The challenge of protecting well-known trademarks beyond the principle of specialty
Can a well-known watch brand prevent the protection of another identical or similar trademark for other types of goods such as cosmetics? The possibility of consumers’ associating the goods of a particular trademark is greater when that mark is well-known. However, relying on the reputation of such trademarks for other goods is not always easy […]
Trademark registration: Banksy laughs last and longest
The EUIPO Board of Appeal has declared the validity of a trademark containing the well known work of the graffiti artist Banksy ‘Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be In Charge’, having deemed that it was not registered in bad faith. In recent years, the EUIPO Cancellation Division has decided to invalidate several trademarks by […]
Grace period in the patent system: a commercial advantage?
The fact that some jurisdictions provide a grace period during which, before the patent application is filed, the inventor can disclose the invention without any limitation with respect to the form or purpose of the disclosure and without this preventing the registration of the patent, as opposed to jurisdictions in the EPC system that do […]
The EU resolves doubts surrounding the protection of trademarks in relation to NFTs
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has issued its guidelines on the classification of goods and services relating to NFTs, establishing the bases to approach the legal challenges resulting from their registration and the scope of protection afforded to owners. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have come to hold a fundamental place in the digital […]
Protection for Talavera pottery, Elche footwear or Albacete knives
An EU proposal for a regulation could help protect craft products and the qualities attributed to specific local skills and traditions. Talavera pottery, Elche footwear and Albacete knives are undoubtedly well-known the world over. The challenge now is to protect them on the register as geographical indications of craft and industrial products. The EU specifically […]