On February 26, 2020, the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications entered into force (wipo.int). Recently, a Shanghai court condemned an infringer to a suspended prison sentence and a fine for counterfeiting Bordeaux wines. This decision follows an investigation and the seizure, in March 2019, of nearly 10,000…
Analysis of the UDRP decisions made following procedures started during the COVID-19 pandemic reminds us of the impossibility of predicting all cybersquatting cases. These decisions also reveal certain flaws in the management of domain name portfolios. During the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009, Hoffmann-La Roche faced a series of cybersquatting cases targeting the “Tamiflu” trademark:…
Amazon and Valentino join forces to sue Kaitlyn Pan and Hao Pan before a Washington State court for infringement of intellectual property rights (Amazon and Valentino v. Kaitlyn Pan Group and Hao Pan, box 2: 20- cv-00934 (Western District Washington)). It is not the first time that Amazon joins an intellectual property rights holder in…
In a judgment of April 30, 2020 (CJEU, April 30, 2020, A v. B., aff. C ‑ 772/18), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on the application, to natural persons, of the prohibition provided for in Article 5 of the Directive of October 22, 2008, approximating the laws of the Member States…
Google completes its procedures for a more reliable Internet. Traditionally, brand owners have had the chance to request the removal of content such as paid advertising (Google Adwords) or downloadable applications from Google Play. However, there was no procedure for removing an unsponsored link on Google Search. Google now extends its engagement in the fight against the…
June 10, 2020, is the 22nd World Anti-Counterfeiting Day. Created on the initiative of the members of the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Network (GACN), it aims to raise awareness among a broad audience of the reality and consequences of counterfeiting. Promoted by globalization, the progression of the Internet penetration rate and many other factors, the share that…
The World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO-AMC) widens the range of extrajudicial procedures it administers to resolve disputes relating to ccTLDs domain names registered. Internet Computer Bureau (ICB), the registry of .AC (Ascension Island), .SH (Saint Helena) and .IO (British Indian Ocean Territory) has designated WIPO-AMC to administer the .AC, .IO and…
JM Weston (France) sued The Frye Company (USA), a subsidiary of Global Brands GroupHolding Ltd. (Hong Kong), before the Paris court of first instance for counterfeiting and unfair competition (TJ Paris, 3rd ch., 3rd sect., May 29, 2020: No. RG 19/10042 – No. Portalis 352J-W-B7D-CQSRQ). The Frye Company had reproduced and imitated JM Weston trademarks…
The .PLACE sunrise period took place in 2014. The registration conditions were then ordinary. However, in 2018, Donuts (the registry) decided to apply restrictions to this TLD. These restrictions are now lifted, as of June 1, 2020, so that everyone is eligible to register .PLACE domain names.
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and EURid, the registry of European top-level domains, announce plans to intensify their collaboration with the view of supporting small and medium enterprises in obtaining European trademarks and European domain names. The goal, always desired by IP Twins, aims to facilitate the concomitant obtaining of European trademarks and…
The UDRP decision FA 1893706, rendered on May 22, 2020, under the aegis of the National Arbitration Forum, deserves careful reading (NAF, FA 1893706, HomeGoods, Inc. v. Jiahongnetwork / jiahongnetwork jiahongnetwork, May 22, 2020, transfer). The dispute was between the owner of the HOMEGOODS trademark (an American company) and the owner of the domain name home-goods.shop…
China’s e-commerce giant owned by Alibaba Group, Taobao (淘宝网) has again landed on the annual Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy for 2019, released by the Administration’s Office of the United Sates Trade Representative (USTR) on April 29, 2020. It is the fourth year in a row that the largest online marketplace in…
Extrajudicial procedures for the settlement of disputes relating to Chinese domain names are governed by the China National Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (CNNIC Policy) and Rules (CNNIC Rules). Compared to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), this legal corpus contains special features that, in particular circumstances, can make the case relatively complicated. The HKIAC…
On February 28, 2020, the Lille court (France) rendered a judgment (Legalis.net), the facts of which, as well as the compensation ordered, deserve great attention. Here are the quick facts: The Jeco company requested the court to rule, on the one hand, that the trademark application (for the trademark no. 4343637) had been made fraudulently…
HT Media, Ltd. and Hindustan Media Venture Ltd. are owners of “HINDUSTAN” trademarks, which designates one of the most popular Indian daily newspapers, with more than 50 million prints. These two companies expect to obtain the transfer of the domain name hindustan.com, owned by the American company Brainlink International, Inc. On December 24, 2019, they…
Fraudsters continue to speculate on pandemics, panic, and scarcity (iptwins.com, 2020-03-19), while brand owners (googlecoronavirus.com, iptwins.com, 2020-04-06) and authorities continue their efforts in the fight against fraud of all kinds (iptwins.com, 2020-03-30). On April 24, 2020, the United States government obtained the seizure of the domain name coronaprevention.org: “The seizure warrant alleges that the owner…
Romag Fasteners produces magnetic snaps. The company had granted a license to Fossil to incorporate the snaps in its handbags. A few years after the license was signed, Romag discovered that Fossil – or, more precisely, its manufacturer in China – was using counterfeit snaps. Romag sued Fossil. A jury ordered Fossil to pay Romag…
. The .ORG saga had a “shock episode” on April 15, 2020, when the Attorney General of the State of California entered the debate by sending a letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Attorney General Xavier Becerra says he is very concerned. As a reminder, in April 2019, ICANN had proposed…
In line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which entered into force on May 25, 2018, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) came into force on January 1, 2020. Both include similar provisions, so much so that the CCPA could have the effect of redacting a large number of Whois files, which remained intact…
By resolution of May 3, 2019, the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Domain Names (ICANN) approved the Canadian International Internet Dispute Resolution Center (CIIDRC, CIIDRC.org), a branch of British Columbia International Commercial Arbitration Center (bcicac.com), as a domain name dispute resolution institution (icann.org, 2019-03-19). It is worth reviving that the BCICAC has…
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