Our Blog – What moves us
Sound marks: much ado about something
The purpose of trademarks is to distinguish the goods and services of one company from those of another. Whether a sign can be registered as a trademark therefore depends to a large extent on whether the relevant public can recognize an indication of origin in it. ...
Again: Bunnies in for a rough ride
Another bad day for bunnies. This time it was the purple milk bunny and for a change it was not about the infringement of trademark rights, but about a violation of the labeling obligation for food, which the judges at the Bremen Regional Court had to decide on (12 O...
There can be only one … gold chocolate bunny
With more than 500 million sold over the past three decades and a market share of over 40 percent (2017), the chocolate bunny in gold foil, red bow and bell is the clear market leader. But there can be no talk of post-Easter peace. Bad karma for gold bunnies in the...
Compulsory licenses and orders for use – key to more vaccines in short course?
In recent days, politicians and the media have been discussing the possible suspension of patent protection for Covid-19 drugs. However, the reporting suffers from the fact that the actors have little idea of the matter. Is time for a closer look. Can the WHO suspend...
COVID variants and vaccination: A race against time
The COVID-19 pandemic has reached its first-year anniversary in recent days. With sad milestones such as almost 3 million deaths and far over 100 million reported infections, we are just starting to process the dire consequences this disease has not only on our...
Intel becomes victim of patent trolls
Dubious business model Patent trolls are well-funded companies that have no research and development of their own and whose business model is to buy up patents at low prices and then try to enforce them against alleged (or actual) infringers. Last year, for example,...
DeepMind’s AlphaFold: The beginning of a new area in medicine
Proteins are biological nano-machines that power every living thing on our planet. While the variety of known proteins is extraordinary, all proteins consist of 20 simple building blocks called amino acids. The precise sequence of amino acids is encoded in our DNA and...
Molnupiravir: The next cure for Cov-2?
Molnupiravir (development codes MK-4482 and EIDD-2801) is an experimental antiviral drug originally developed by Emory University for the treatment of influenza. It is a prodrug of the synthetic nucleoside derivative N4-hydroxycytidine and exerts its antiviral effect...
Smart cars for ECJ
The patent dispute between Nokia and Daimler concerning alleged infringement of various mobile communications patents will now step to the ECJ. On Thursday December 17, 2020 the Düsseldorf Regional Court (LG) announced submitting several questions to the ECJ...
Unified patent court close to come – this time for real
„This is a political train that does not stop.“ Prof. Winfried Tillmann The Unified Patent Court (EPC) is a planned court with two instances for disputes concerning the European unitary patent. The jurisdiction of the court comprises nullity actions against European...
Union trademarks in the UK after Brexit
The Brexit becomes effective At the end of the year, the transitional period expires and the Brexit becomes effective. Recently, the rules for the extension of Union trademarks to the UK have been clarified: 1. All Union trademarks.. registered or to be registered by...
mRNA Corona vaccines: A step towards normality
The second Corona wave As the second Corona wave is accelerating in Europe and the US, thereby forcing us again to restrict our social interaction to a bare minimum, the announcements in recent days by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna of highly effective vaccines...
Our chance to control the pandemic globally
Controlling COVID19 infections is essential to prevent further damage to society and the collapse of health care systems. PCR-based methods have been the gold standard testing approach for the first phase of this pandemic. However, low throughput, high costs and long...
NO FLOWERS FOR THE “FLOWER THROWER”
Anonymous Street-Art artist lost TM protection for one of his most iconic motifs for allegedly having filed the mark in bad faith. Banksy is certainly one of the hottest artists of our time. His Street-Art artworks suddenly appear in the most unusual places. The...
ADLON STAYS EXCLUSIVELY WITH KEMPINSKY
The brand „Adlon“ remains exclusively reserved for the Berlin luxury hotel Adlon Kempinski. The first instance court of the European Union (EuG) in Luxembourg dismissed a complaint of the sanitary products manufacturer Kludi on Wednesday, which wanted to sell bathroom...
Our Authors
Bernd Fabry is founder and CEO of IP2. He is a qualified German and European Patent and Trademark Attorney. He has more than 25 years company experience as Head of IP departments.
We are pleased that our Scientific Adviser, Dr. Martin Fabry from the University of Cambridge, will now report regularly on new developments in this exciting field.
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