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In City Chain Stores (S) Pte Ltd v Louis Vuitton Malletier, the Court of Appeal of Singapore has overturned a decision of the trial judge in which the latter had found in favour of Louis Vuitton Malletier in a dispute involving its famous 'quatrefoil' device. Interestingly, the court considered two approaches to the issue of what would amount to infringement.

In Pritzker v Brown, a WIPO panel has refused to order the transfer of the domain name 'tpritzker.com' to Thomas Pritzker. Among other things, the panel found that Pritzker had failed to establish common law trademark rights in the names T. Pritzker or Thomas Pritzker. The decision underlines that domain name cases involving personal names are not always as straightforward as they seem.

The IP Division of the Court of Milan has confirmed that the colour of Ferrari Formula 1 cars (not limited to a specific nuance of red) was protectable as an unregistered trademark with a reputation. Among other things, the court ordered the seizure of unauthorized merchandising products (including clothes), holding that their red colour inevitably brought Ferrari to mind and could cause confusion with original products marketed by Ferrari's licensees.

AFNIC, the registry for '.fr' domain names, has felt the chill of a French court decision over its failure to 'freeze' the domain name 'francelot.fr' upon the request of a disgruntled trademark owner. The court noted that AFNIC was obliged under its own charter to freeze a domain name if its registration constituted a violation of the terms of the charter.

In 2045978 Ontario Inc v Chaps Aldershot Inc, the Federal Court has found that Chaps Aldershot Inc and its president, secretary, treasurer and sole director Kevin Saunders had infringed the registered trademark CHAPS. Among other things, the court held that Saunders had "engaged in a deliberate, wilful and knowing pursuit of a course of conduct that he knew constituted infringement" of the mark.

The Supreme People's Court of China has released a circular entitled "The Rules for Distributing Jurisdiction in Administrative IP Cases Concerning the Grant of Rights and the Recognition of Patents and Trademarks". The rules represent a significant step towards the establishment of a unified judicial system for the protection of IP rights.

In Nicklaus Companies LLC v Randazzo and Tiffany and Company v Koury, delegates of the registrar of trademarks have dismissed two separate oppositions against the registration of two trademarks, notwithstanding the international fame and reputation of the opponents and their respective marks.

The Madras High Court has granted an interim injunction restraining Google from infringing Consim Info Private Limited's registered trademarks, including BHARATMATRIMONY.COM, by using them as keywords in its AdWords system. The outcome of the case will be crucial for the future of the AdWords system in India.

In JOOP! GmbH v OHIM, the CFI has upheld a decision of the Board of Appeal of OHIM in which the latter had found that JOOP! GmbH's exclamation mark symbol could not be registered as a Community trademark. Among other things, the CFI held that JOOP! had failed to prove that its mark had acquired distinctive character through use.

The "Regulation on Issues in Relation to Applications for Trademark Assignments", which was issued by the China Trademark Office following an increase in the number of fraudulent trademark assignments, has come into force. The regulation specifies that in case of doubt, the office must require a notarized copy of a document identifying the assignor and the assignee.

In Lilly Icos LLC v Richie Laboratories Limited, the Delhi High Court has held that a passive presence on the Internet was insufficient to confer jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant. The court found that the website at issue was merely used to post information on the nature and purpose of the defendant's goods, and did not invite orders from consumers in Delhi.

The Court of Appeal of Lisbon has upheld a decision of the Commercial Court of Lisbon in which the latter had found that the owner of the trademark SAIMA had successfully demonstrated that it had made genuine use of its mark during a period of five consecutive years. The application for the revocation of the mark was thus rejected.

In Hotel Cipriani Srl v Cipriani (Grosvenor Street) Ltd, the Court of Appeal has upheld a decision of the High Court on all grounds. Hotel Cipriani was thus successful in its action for trademark infringement against the Cipriani London restaurant. However, the Court of Appeal would not rule out that the so-called 'own name' defence to trademark infringement would never apply to the trading name of a company.

The Delhi High Court has dismissed ITC Limited's application for an injunction preventing Philip Morris from using a stylized M logo for its popular Marlboro brand of cigarettes. Among other things, the court held that, based on an overall assessment, ITC's W logo and Philip Morris's M logo were not identical or similar.

In Poslovni Sistem Mercator dd v Tabacofina-Vander Elst NV, the Administrative Court has set aside a decision of the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office in which the latter had, for the second time, dismissed Poslovni Sistem Mercator's opposition against the registration of the trademark MERCATOR for tobacco products. The case was again remitted to SIPO for further consideration.