Sep 1, 2013
In a recent decision, the Austrian Patent Appeal Board had to decide on the question whether an internet disclosure was proven to be published before the priority date of the patent in suit. In this decision, the Patent…
Read more →Jul 1, 2013
In a case on trade mark infringement, the Austrian Supreme Court developed its previous case law on the scope of protection of trade marks. The decision also deals with the defence of non-use of the plaintiff's mark in…
Read more →Jun 1, 2013
Because of the devasting floodings in Austria we have decided to give part of our yearly "Christmas donation" already now to "ORF-Hochwasserhilfe - Sofort". According to the promoter "ORF" (Austrian Broadcasting…
Read more →Jun 1, 2013
In a recent decision of the Austrian Supreme IP Tribunal an Austrian auditor company named CONFIDA requested cancellation of three younger trade marks, all including the word CONFIDA and registered i.a. for auditing…
Read more →May 1, 2013
In a recent judgment the Austrian Supreme IP Tribunal had to decide on a dispute between the legal successors of a company. The sign KASTNER had been used since the 16th century for a confectionary in a small town in…
Read more →Apr 1, 2013
The Austrian Supreme Court (8 ObA 45/12v of 24 Jan. 2013) has recently given us some enlightment on which basis the remuneration due to an employee for his invention is to be calculated. In an action for a declaratory…
Read more →Mar 1, 2013
In a recent judgment the Austrian Supreme IP Tribunal had to decide on the likelihood of confusion between the older figurative mark "e@sybank" and the younger Austrian figurative mark "e@syCredit". Whether "e@sybank"…
Read more →Feb 1, 2013
As already reported some time ago (news April 2011) RED BULL's trade mark "FLÜGERL" (meaning "small wings" in the German language) had been cancelled as the Austrian Supreme Court found the sign was only used in a…
Read more →Dec 1, 2012
Our Christmas donation 2012 was given to "Ärzte ohne Grenzen" (Médecins Sans Frontières), "Ute Bock" and "Kinderurologie-Eritrea" (Paediatric Urology - Eritrea). "Ärzte ohne Grenzen"/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is…
Read more →Dec 1, 2012
The Austrian Supreme IP Tribunal recently sent some questions to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) Luxemburg to clarify certain aspects concerning the requirements under which a trade mark becomes generic. In the…
Read more →Nov 1, 2012
At first sight one might think of music and not of liquor in connection with "Mozart". However, the Austrian Supreme IP Tribunal recently ruled descriptiveness of "Mozart" for liquor as being notorious. The owner of the…
Read more →Oct 1, 2012
Employees have the obligation under Austrian Law to communicate their service inventions to the employer "without delay". They have on the other hand the right to file themselves patent applications for their…
Read more →The famous Austrian manufacturer of energy drinks Red Bull recently successfully enforced CTM 2534774, a trade mark consisting of blue and silver, whereas these two colours make up half of the mark each. Red Bull sued…
Read more →Jul 1, 2012
In Austria there is a producer for sweet products famous for its foamy sweets in the form of a bomb. The outer form of those sweets was denied trade mark protection back in 1976 since their bomb-form is technically the…
Read more →In one of its recent judgments, the Austrian Supreme Court had to decide on the likelihood of confusion between the word mark "Sinupret" registered i.a. for pharmaceutical products and the sign "Sinuvex" used for…
Read more →Ex Officio-Examination of Austrian Nullity Department after Withdrawal of Request for Nullification of a Patent in Appeal Proceedings In Austria, patents may be revoked by a request for revocation to the Nullity…
Read more →Apr 1, 2012
Lindt's golden bunny has - as is generally known - already hopped its way to Luxembourg in order to clarify under what conditions a trade mark application has been filed in bad faith (C-529/07). In a recent decision by…
Read more →Mar 1, 2012
In a recent decision the Austrian Supreme Court had to decide on the professional liability of an attorney-at-law due to malpractice in a utility model infringement action. The claimant argued that due to miscounselling…
Read more →Feb 1, 2012
In a recent decision the Austrian Supreme Court had decided a dispute between the trade mark owners of "ORAL B"® and "Dr. Best"®. Both companies produce toothbrushes. The dispute particularly focused on the construction…
Read more →Jan 1, 2012
This war concerns the use of the sign BUD and was fought between the famous brewery in České Budějovice distributing its in Austria famous "Budweiser Bier" and an Austrian importer of "American Bud" and "BUD light" of…
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