In a highly-anticipated and extremely significant pair of decisions for businesses and consumers alike, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) ruled on Thursday (October 31, 2013) that the ultimate consumers at the end of a supply chain can effectively leap-frog the supply chain by having direct legal recourse in a class action against a manufacturer who illegally overcharged for the product supplied ...
In 2012 the Western Cape High Court handed down a trade mark judgement that raised eyebrows. The facts were that the owner of a farm called Zonquasdrift had a trade mark registration for the mark Zonquasdrift covering wine (but not grapes). The owner of another farm in the area sold wine grapes under its name, Zonquasdrif Vineyards (no ‘t’ at the end) ...
The authorities seem to have gone on the offensive on the issue of counterfeits. In the run-up to Christmas, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has called on South Africans not to buy counterfeit goods, even if they are cheaper than the originals (as they invariably are) ...
Jack Wills, the clothing company that markets itself as “outfitters to the gentry” has enjoyed recent success in its action against House of Fraser regarding the use of its logo. Jack Wills complained that the rights in its logo comprising a silhouette of a pheasant wearing a top hat and holding a cane had been infringed by House of Fraser’s use of a logo on its own Linea brand of casual clothing that comprised a profile of a pigeon wearing a top hat and bow-tie ...
In case you missed it, there was an interesting piece in the January/February issue of Transaction Trends, the Electronic Transactions Association’s official publication. I highly recommend it, as it was a good look ahead. The feature, “Putting the ‘L’ in M-Commerce” was an interview with several prominent industry executives about loyalty cards and programs. Today, however, loyalty card programs are fragmented, to put it politely ...
The rapid expansion of brands in the Chinese foreign market has problems relating to the protection of these arise and hence of their owners. The last amendment to the Trademark Law of China reflects one of the main problems that foreign companies often face in China which is "brand hijacking." The records of "bad faith" requested by the opportunists of fashion brands block applications for registration of trademarks by their rightful owners ...
New Regulations Governing Consumer Claims and Language Use in Consumer Information The Croatian Consumer Protection Act has recently updated how customer claims are to be handled. The receipt of complaints must now be confirmed in writing without delay ...
In a surprise announcement on 21 March 2014, the Zambian government with immediate effect abolished exchange control regulations introduced in 2012 and 2013 in an attempt to halt the rapid devaluation of the Kwacha. When the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) came to power in Zambia in 1991, the new government’s priorities were the restoration of economic future growth and employment through liberalising the economy and allowing market forces a greater role ...
On 14 February 2014 the South African Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) gave notice of its intention to prohibit the use of a large number of European food and drinks names in terms of section 15 of the Merchandise Marks Act (MMA) - confusingly the notice also makes reference to section 13 of the MMA, a section that no longer exists ...
Our clients from outside the province of Quebec often ask us the following questions: what are the linguistic labelling requirements in Canada, and particularly Quebec? There are several statutes and regulations governing labelling in Quebec and Canada. The following is a summary of some of the major points relating to the use of the French language ...
With international marketers readying for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA) has released Ambush Marketing: A Global Legal Perspective, which summarizes laws and other rules governing ambush marketing in 52 countries around the world ...
New regulations that ban businesses from imposing excessive fees on consumers making payments will extend to small businesses from 12 June 2014. The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 (the 'regulations') - the first of many legislative changes that form part of the major ongoing overhaul of consumer protection legislation - came into force for most businesses on 6 April 2013 ...
According to the Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs (CDR), you can protect a design without registering it. But here is the catch: the unregistered design must be new and have an “individual character”. So, what is individual character? A recent court case gives insight. It specifically addresses the fashion industry, but the ideas are useful for any company that does not register all of its designs ...
The trade mark laws of the world are, by and large, fairly well harmonised, or at least well on their way to becoming so. Which makes perfect sense in an era where multinational companies operate in a global village – a multinational should ideally get the same protection for its brand in all the countries where it operates. It is for this reason that South African trade mark law offers the same sort of protection to trade mark owners that many other countries offer ...
As January closes, it is worth reflecting on what has been a turbulent few months for UK retailers. The travails of Tesco are well documented (and seemingly never ending), whilst Marks and Spencer must have been mightily relieved that it’s own continued decline (food excepted) was slightly overshadowed. That’s before you add in the departure of the CEO at Morrisons and some fairly major surgery that’s underway at Sainsburys ...
The Parliament passed a bill on halal products in September 2014 and on 17 October 2014 the President enacted the bill as Law No. 33 of 2014 on Guaranty for Halal Products (Law 33 of 2014). Law 33 of 2014 requires that all products imported, distributed, or traded in Indonesia bear a halal certificate ...
In a recent judgment on the merits, the president of the Brussels Commercial Court held that the X shape of Mars's Dentastix dog food (see Figure 1 below) constituted a valid three-dimensional (3D) Community trademark and a valid Benelux design. Both IP rights had been invoked cumulatively against a Belgian company commercialising similar X-shaped chew sticks for dogs (Figure 2) on the European market.
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The Court of Appeal of Quebec has issued an important judgment pertaining to a franchisor’s implicit obligations towards its franchisees. In June 2012, the Superior Court of Quebec ordered Dunkin’ Donuts Brands Canada Ltd. (“Dunkin’ Donuts”) to pay an amount of $16.4M (plus interests and costs) to 21 of its franchisees in Quebec the sum of $16 ...
Is your business affected by counterfeiting? If so, you are not alone. A newly released study shows that almost all intellectual property dependent companies listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm 30 Index have been affected. Moreover, most expect that the problem will continue to grow. Better political support is required to stem this development, but companies already have several weapons available to use against the counterfeiters ...
It’s been widely reported that various luxury brand owners have brought legal proceedings in the USA against Alibaba, the Chinese online shopping giant that recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The claim is that Alibaba has knowingly made it possible for companies to sell counterfeit products on its platform ...
The Seventh Circuit has revived a class action against Neiman Marcus for losses customers allegedly suffered as a result of a data breach involving payment card information. A federal district court had dismissed the claims, finding – consistent with federal courts around the country – that the plaintiffs lacked standing because they failed to allege they suffered concrete harm from the breach ...
The Philippine section of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Copyright 2016 was contributed by SyCipLaw partners Enrique T. Manuel and Vida M. Panganiban-Alindogan. Mr. Manuel heads the firm’s Intellectual Property department. The chapter includes information on copyright subsistence, ownership, exploitation, owners’ rights, copyright enforcement, criminal offenses, and current developments. 1 ...
The Philippine section of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Trade Marks 2015 was contributed by SyCipLaw partners Enrique T. Manuel and Vida M. Panganiban-Alindogan. Mr. Manuel heads the firm’s Intellectual Property department ...
Lavery is closely monitoring developments in consumer class actions and, in order to keep the business sector informed on the subject, publishes regular newsletters on recent case law and legislative changes that are likely to affect, if not transform, business practices. INTRODUCTION In Fortin v. Mazda Canada Inc ...
