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Is the tide turning in the controversy over what to do about counterfeits?
United Kingdom - On Monday, UK brand owners and law enforcement officers raided a counterfeit market at a racecourse, seizing hundreds of fake goods. On Tuesday, they opened the newspaper to a report entitled "Fake goods are fine, says EU study". This is a somewhat stretchy interpretation of the research. But its author has nevertheless angered the IP community.

Posted by Adam Smith, on Sep 02 2010

Revealed: how new domain registries are preparing to protect trademarks
International - It will take many long years before the trademark community ever starts to feel comfortable in the domain name world. The impending launch of infinite new gTLDs will only prolong this problem. But companies intending to apply to run new gTLD registries have told WTR that they are keen to offer rights protection mechanisms and will learn from the recent successful re-launch of the '.co' ccTLD.

Posted by Adam Smith, on Sep 02 2010

WTR survey to reveal corporate strategy on new gTLDs
International - WTR has launched a survey to find out exactly how brand owners are preparing for the introduction of new gTLDs. Our coverage of this topic has often acted as a lightning rod for the opinions of outspoken brand owners and internet experts: this survey will build on this by collecting responses from the widest base consulted so far on this topic. The research is supported by INTA, MARQUES, ECTA, CSC, CT Corsearch, NetNames, Com Laude and several associations of marketing professionals.

Posted by Adam Smith, on Aug 31 2010

Google bulldozes through trademarks in Europe (thanks to the ECJ)
International - Immediately after the ECJ published its controversial Google AdWords judgment earlier this year, WTR asked whether there were any compelling reasons for Google to come to the table and work with trademark owners. Now we know the answer is a firm no - Google has announced it will expand its trademark policy in Europe, allowing advertisers to use trademark terms as keywords.

Posted by Adam Smith, on Aug 05 2010

This doesn't have to be Czech mate for AB InBev's trademark strategy
International - Now that AB InBev has lost its argument to register BUDWEISER as a CTM, what should the famous beer brand do? It has tried for 14 long years to register the word as a CTM to bolster the national registrations it has in 23 of the 27 EU member states. But that will now be impossible: the ECJ yesterday ruled that Budejovický Budvar's earlier rights in Germany and Austria were sufficient to show genuine use of the mark in the Community and could therefore block AB InBev's application. So how exactly should AB InBev structure its trademark strategy in line with an evolving brand portfolio?

Posted by Adam Smith, on Jul 30 2010 (1 comment)

Avoiding Bratz: cross-company understanding of IP necessary
United States - One thing that can be learnt from the dispute between Mattel and MGA Entertainment over the Bratz doll brand is that not every employee of any given company understands IP rights. Knowledge of intellectual property runs through the veins of some companies - WTR recently heard from Siemens about that corporation's IP-aware 400,000 employees (full details will be published this autumn). For others, fostering this sort of understanding is trickier.

Posted by Adam Smith, on Jul 29 2010

ICANN responds to questions over potential trademark rebuff
International - ICANN has responded to the blog post WTR published yesterday that speculated whether the board would close the chapter on trademark protection mechanisms in the new gTLD programme without full analysis of the latest round of comments. The body has now stated that the board will receive the analysis in time for its September retreat.

Posted by Adam Smith, on Jul 28 2010

Did ICANN just imply that the new gTLDs process will snub trademarks?
International - Here's some exclusive news from ICANN, and trademark owners will not like it. The organisation has indicated that the trademark concerns surrounding new gTLDs will not be put to bed in time for the board's retreat in September. This will alarm mark owners because Peter Dengate Thrush, ICANN's chair, has told WTR: "If the issues are not cleared up by September then we'll be forced to make some decisions. If the community can't decide, we'll step in and force it into some sort of arrangement or decision."

Posted by Adam Smith, on Jul 27 2010

OHIM: our "radical" oppositions backlog overhaul is working
European Union - While OHIM's mountains of cash and unconventional governance provoke headlines, CTM users have had a more practical concern of late. The agency's looming backlog of opposition decisions started shortly after the registration of the first CTM 13 years ago, and has swollen every year since. The director of the trademarks department calls it a "moving target". However, according to new statistics, OHIM's aim is closing in.

Posted by Adam Smith, on Jul 23 2010 (2 comments)

Microsoft, Yahoo! and others face possible '.co' infringers
International - Last week we learnt that some of the world's biggest brands have bought in to the '.co' domain, either as part of a new domain name strategy or merely to protect their trademark rights from misuse. Now that the Colombian registry behind the widely popular domain has opened up for general availability, we know that trademark owners such as Yahoo! and Microsoft are facing possibly infringing uses of their trademarks - in what may become the most valuable domain since '.com'.

Posted by Adam Smith, on Jul 22 2010