The EUIPO has published guidance on how virtual goods and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) should be classified, a question that has caused a lot of debate among trade mark applicants in recent months. The guidance states that: Virtual goods are proper to class 9 because they are treated as digital content or images, but the term virtual goods on its own lacks clarity and precision, so the content to which the virtual goods relate must be specified. The 12th edition of the Nice Cla

The UK-based fashion brand Manolo Blahnik has successfully invalidated a trade mark registration incorporating its name in China, following a 22-year legal battle. The decision was widely reported this week by media including the BBC, FT, Guardian, Vogue and Jing Daily. The trade mark registration, which was filed by a local businessman called Fang Yuzhou, has prevented Manolo Blahnik from operating in China until now. The company had made various attempts since 2000 to inval

Can you register THE in relation to clothing as a trade mark in the United States? After nearly three years of trying, Ohio State University the USPTO granted the university a registration for the THE in relation to a limited list of goods including “t-shirts, baseball caps and hats” in class 25. The USPTO examiner had originally objected to the mark on the basis that it would be viewed as a decorative ornamental feature, rather than an indication of source. But Ohio State’s

A judge in the High Court has upheld a UK IPO opposition ruling regarding Unilever’s application to register the trade mark WONDER MUM for goods including soaps, perfumery and hair care products in class 3. The opposition is discussed here. The application was opposed by DC Comics on the basis of its earlier EU trade mark for WONDER WOMAN, registered in classes 3, 9, 16 and 41, and its goodwill in the WONDER WOMAN character generally. In the first instance decision in June 20

The risk of not doing any kind of trade mark search before launching a new business was clear in a recent IPEC case in which His Honour Judge Hacon found that the China Tang trade mark was infringed. The case was brought by the owner of the China Tang restaurant at the Dorchester Hotel in London against a Chinese takeaway called China Tang in Barrow-in-Furness (GNAT and Company Ltd & Anor v West Lake East Ltd & Anor [2022] EWHC 319 (IPEC)). Scope of trade mark The claim was b