This book employs scholarly analysis to ground practical tools for applying the EU Trade Mark law (EUTM) functionality refusal grounds to address business needs when registering trade marks consisting of product characteristics. The study comprehensively examines the absolute grounds for a refusal of registration of functional signs under EUTM. It interprets the functionality refusal grounds through objective tests, focusing on the pro-competition rationale of denying trade mark exclusivity on product features that are technically or aesthetically important for competitors’ ability to trade in alternative products. The work takes a comparative approach looking at the US trade dress functionality doctrine, and a law and economics perspective on the role of trade marks and brands in the marketplace. It explores how competition rules related to market definition and the substitutability of products, as well as marketing and design findings related to branding and aesthetics, could be integrated into the legal assessment of EUTM functionality. The volume will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of Intellectual Property Law, Trade Mark and Design Law, EU Law, Comparative Law, and Branding.

The sweeping changes brought about in 2017 to practice and procedures in European Union trade mark law have precipitated a new edition of this much relied-upon guide to the field. This is the first book to provide comprehensive guidance to the new EU Trade Mark Regulation, including full details on all aspects of substance and procedure, as well as to the new Trade Mark Directive. This new and significantly expanded edition, which builds on the two previous editions of the Concise European Trade Mark and Design Law, includes the full texts of the new Implementing and Delegated Acts – available in no other book – as well as a collection of other texts that are needed in daily practice, such as excerpts from the Rules of Procedure of the General Court, the Paris Convention, the Madrid Protocol and the Nice Agreement, the Nice Classification, the TRIPS Agreement and the Directive on Enforcement of IP Rights. Providing a complete commentary and a full set of the legal provisions that must be dealt with on a daily basis, obviating recourse to other sources, this new edition will be welcomed by anyone with an interest in the law and practice of trade marks in the European Union.

Introducing the practice and procedure of trade marks in Ireland and at the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), this book steers clear of confusing legal jargon, explaining the main trade mark principles clearly and concisely. Several new chapters have been added to the Second Edition, addressing topics such as trade mark searching, online infringement and trade mark protection post-Brexit. Recent Irish legislation is also covered: - European Union (Trade Marks) Regulations 2018 (SI 561/2018) - Trade Marks (Amendment) Rules 2018 (SI 562/2018) - Trade Marks Act 1996 (Community Trade Mark) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (SI 563/2018) - Trade Marks (Amendment) Rules 2019 (SI 588/2019 and 628/2019) - Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Law Provisions Act 2019 - Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Act 2015 Notable authorities are also considered, such as: - Galway Free Range Eggs Ltd v O' Brien and Ors [2016] IEHC 249 - Nutrimedical BV & anor v Nualtra Ltd [2016] IEHC 261; [2017] IEHC 253 - Aldi v Dunnes Stores [2019] IESC 41 - Cartier International & Ors v British Sky Broadcasting Limited & Ors [2014] EWHC 3354 (Ch), [2016] EWCA Civ 658 and [2018] UKSC 28 - Sky Ltd & Ors v Skykick UK Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 990 (Ch) and [2021] EWCA Civ 1121 - Aviareto Ltd v Global Closing Room Ltd [2021] IEHC 377 This is an indispensable guide for lawyers, those working in the area of IP, candidates intending to sit the Trade Mark Agent exam at the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland, sole traders, entrepreneurs and anyone wanting to protect their brand. This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Intellectual Property and IT online service.

This volume offers a detailed analysis of the issues related to the protection of non-traditional marks. In recent years, the domain of trademark law and the scope of trademark protection has grown exponentially. Today, a wide variety of non-traditional marks, including colour, sound, smell, and shape marks, can be registered in many jurisdictions. However, this expansion of trademark protection has led to heated discussions and controversies about the impact of the protection of non-traditional marks on freedom of competition and, more generally, on socially valuable use of these or similar signs in unrelated non-commercial contexts. These tensions have also led to increasing litigation in this area across several jurisdictions. This book provides an overview of the debate and state of the law surrounding non-traditional marks at the international, regional, and national level. In particular, this book addresses relevant international treaties administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects to Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as well as several regional and national legislations and leading judicial decisions in order to examine current law and practice culminating in critical reflections and suggestions on the topic. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

This discerning and detailed Research Handbook examines the law of trademarks, unfair competition, and dilution from a variety of law and economics perspectives. With a comprehensive exploration of trademarks and trademark law, it provides an excellent illustration of the analytical diversity that the law and economics approach can bring to legal issues.

The two EU instruments that govern design law – the Community Design Regulation (CDR) of 2001 and the Design Directive of 1998 – are expertly annotated in this thorough article-by-article commentary. Written by distinguished practitioners from a range of European countries, the volume builds on the two editions of the design-related portions of the much-relied-upon Concise European Trade Mark and Design Law, with corresponding case law through the end of 2022. It is the best first-stop guide to practice in the field. The commentary provides detailed guidance, taking into account the case law of the EUIPO and its Boards of Appeal and of the General Court and the Court of Justice, on the practical application of such crucial building blocks of design law practice as the following: all issues of substantive design law, from definitions to novelty and individual character, ownership of design rights, limits of protection, to scope of protection and rights conferred; all proceedings before the EUIPO, from filing design applications to registration, actions for declaration of invalidity, and all provisions governing review of EUIPO decisions, by the EUIPO Boards of Appeal, by the EU’s General Court, and by the Court of Justice; and actions for the infringement of Community designs, with a focus on jurisdiction and applicable law. The book also contains a unique collection of EU and international legislation of relevance for design protection, found in no other reference book, including the Community Design Implementing and Fee Regulations, the Enforcement of IP Rights Directive, excerpts from the Rules of Procedure of the General Court, and relevant provisions from applicable international treaties, such as the TRIPS Agreement, the Paris Convention, the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement, and the Locarno Agreement. This concise book on designs is a handy desktop companion and single reference tool for daily use by every practitioner in the EU and elsewhere who practises design law. It will be welcomed by IP lawyers, in-house counsel, and government officials involved with design policy and procedure.

Boasting an impressive list of contributors, this first edition of Trademark Law and Theory brings together a compilation of well-written and powerfully argued works by leading international academics. The book is certainly one of the most extensive and thought provoking overviews of contemporary trademark law and theory yet to be published. . . Whilst all the contributions share in common their examination of the rapidity of change within trademark systems, the editors should be commended on their generous seasoning of other cross cutting themes throughout the Handbook. . . This fascinating compendium enriches our understanding of the shape, substance, and form of trademark law and theory. . . this Handbook is perhaps a rare exception to the adage that no book can be all things to all men . Its broad sweep approach and cross cutting themes enable a range of interested parties, such as policymakers; academics in the fields of marketing, business, consumer psychology; in addition to the usual suspects; to dip in and out of the Handbook as they wish. . . a unique and erudite collection of essays concerning trademark law and theory. . . Odette Hutchinson, Communications Law Trademarks is an area of vital, practical everyday concern, and the idea of producing a volume that brings together the perspectives of 19 thoughtful and experienced legal scholars is a bold and exciting initiative. The present volume does not disappoint and the two editors are to be congratulated on orchestrating an ensemble that simultaneously informs and stimulates. The title is apt: it is truly contemporary and is highly theoretical and doctrinal in character, while the interesting choice of the word handbook suggests clearly that this is a work in progress, a snapshot at a particular time of the challenging lines of individual research that each contributor to the volume is undertaking. It is a fine addition to a larger series of research handbooks in intellectual property published by Edward Elgar under the series editorship of Jeremy Phillips. . . The editors have done a fine job in presenting this material in such a clear and coherent fashion. . . this is an excellent and rewarding volume of readings that will be of interest to anyone working in the area of trademarks, whether as an academic or as a practitioner. Indeed, for the practitioner it will be of particular value, in that it contains, and opens up, many areas of inquiry that may not always be apparent when working at the coalface of a particular problem. . . For both kinds of readers, the real value of the volume is to have so many different kinds of perspectives brought together within the space of a single volume. . . this is a handsome production: the publishers and editors are to be commended on the clarity and cleanness of the typeface and headings, the thoroughness of the index, and the accuracy of their proof reading. It has also been given a striking and evocative cover. Sam Ricketson, University of Melbourne Law School Australia, European Intellectual Property Review Trademark Law and Theory is a first-rate exploration of the issues that will dominate trademark law in the 21st century. Authors from five continents provide a truly global perspective on the present and future of trademark law. An exceptional collection of contributors and contributions. Robert Denicola, University of Nebraska, US This compendium is an excellent source of writing on all aspects of trademark law and practice by experts from Europe, the United States, South Africa, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. It will be a stimulating read for lawyers, academics, students and policymakers alike on the present and developing trends in law and policy relating to trademarks as marketing tools and cultural artefacts. The editors deserve congratulation on their concept for the book and their judicious selection of material. David Vaver, University of Oxford, UK All students, young and older, in the burgeoni

The EU’s ‘Design Approach’ represented a unique attempt to protect industrial design and designers in and on their own terms. It has now been in place for more than a decade and this book, including contributions from leading international scholars, takes stock and attempts to find out what became of the Design Approach: Is it still observed; what has it achieved; how does it interact with other areas of the law; what became of the spare parts problem and how did the world respond to it?

The fourth edition of this legal guide for advisers of housing associations and housing association tenants provides comprehensive coverage of this area of law. It incorporates wide-ranging changes in law and policy, including the shift towards a more holistic approach

This comprehensive Research Handbook explores empirical legal studies of intellectual property law. It covers research from four continents and offers unique conclusions to aid in the creation and understanding of policies and legislation.