Dec 1, 2011
Our Christmas donation 2011 was given to "Nachbar in Not" (Neighbor in Need) and "SOS-Children's Village". Due to the famine in many countries of East Africa, the beneficence "Nachbar in Not" started the project…
Read more →Dec 1, 2011
2011 was the year of global financial crisis and recession and, sad to say, many expect for 2012 this situation to go even worse, with what in the Internet is called Financial Crisis 2.0 looming over the horizon. While…
Read more →Some of the more vinophile IP enthusiasts might have heard of young Austrian wine called "Junker" coming from southern Styria. Already in 1986 some wineries from Styria joined together to the sell young white wine from…
Read more →Oct 1, 2011
In a recent decision the Austrian Supreme Court changed its case law with respect to merchandising articles. In the present case the defendant sold souvenir plates showing one of the famous Lipizzaner white horses of…
Read more →Sep 1, 2011
A merchant (not related to the firm Puma) in the perfume market sued a competitor for infringement of Puma's trade mark Puma's trade mark has been used for perfumes on the Austrian market through sales by means of its…
Read more →We can report an interesting decision of the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof (OGH)), applying the decisions of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) under C-532/06 on 02 Holdings Limited and C-487/07 L'Oreal…
Read more →Jul 1, 2011
At regular intervals, patent and trademark applicants are confronted with fraudulent requests for payment. The fraudulent attempts are usually designed similarly, the scammers take the address data of the applicants and…
Read more →Jun 1, 2011
Austria is one of the countries which offers protection for technical inventions not only via patents but also utility models. When the Austrian legislator enacted the first Utility Model Act in 1994 he commented the…
Read more →Memantine, a drug developed by Merz back in the 1960s, had been on the market in Germany even before September 1, 1976, when it was authorised on the basis of Article 3(7) of the AMG 1976 on the basis of transitional…
Read more →Apr 1, 2011
Everybody who has ever been to Austria for skiing holidays, is very likely to have come across the famous mixed drink "FLÜGERL"; a "FLÜGERL" is a shot-like drink consisting of a RED BULL® and red or white vodka and is…
Read more →Mar 1, 2011
Sonn & Partner offers consolatory letter. » (PDF document, english/japanese, )
Read more →On the basis of its RED BULL- and BULL-marks for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and class 3 goods like perfumes, the firm behind RED BULL has requested cancellation of the word mark PITBULL and the device mark…
Read more →There are countries, e.g. the United States, where it is common to file a declaratory action with the courts solely based on the ground that the IP right of the defendant is invalid. This is not possible in Austria,…
Read more →The Austrian Parliament has enacted the Budget Framework Act shortly before the end of the year. Part of the Budget Framework Act was also an amendment to the Patent Office Fees Act. As part of this change, the…
Read more →Dec 1, 2010
Our christmas donation was given to "Child-Care-Afrika" and "HORIZONT3000". "Child-Care-Afrika" supports care projects in Africa, especially for drinking water supplies as well as for children and families.…
Read more →Dec 1, 2010
In a recent decision regarding several registered Community Designs (RCD) the Austrian Supreme Court had to decide whether allegedly infringing double-walled glasses produce the same overall impression on the informed…
Read more →Nov 1, 2010
The right to the own name is not often subject to Supreme Court decisions. However, recently the Austrian Supreme Court had to decide on two different cases regarding the assignment of rights to the own name and the…
Read more →Oct 1, 2010
In a recent decision the Austrian Supreme Court has handed down a judgment that may answer some burning questions on patent infringement proceedings. The case concerned a patent for a transdermal patch for…
Read more →On 15 July 2010, the Government of the Republic of Serbia (RS) deposited its instrument of accession to the European Patent Convention (EPC). The EPC will accordingly enter into force for Serbia on 1 October 2010. The…
Read more →Aug 1, 2010
This case (17 Ob 35/09k - 2 February 2010) concerned the infringement of a "Swiss-type" claim: "The use of an isoflavone phyto-oestrogen extract of soy or clover, for the manufacture of a medicament for administration…
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