Water toys: unlike CTMs, for RCDs different colours are not relevant
A registered Community design (RCD) presented in black-and-white protects against the use of the design in any colour (see, inter alia, Case T-68/10 Sphere Time v OHIM, para 82 (General Court). The District Court in The Hague recently applied this practice in its decision of 2 September, 2015 (Wibit-Sports GmbH v Aquaparx). In this respect, design law differs from the common practice on black-and-white trade marks adopted by OHIM in 2014 (see here).



Read more: http://www.marques.org/class99/Default.asp?XID=BHA688
Golden bears: fruit gum or chocolate?
The German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) ruled on an unusual case that will be of interest to all of you with a sweet tooth: Goldbears made of fruit gum vs. golden chocolate bears.
Read more: http://www.marques.org/class46/Default.asp?XID=BHA4191
Kamstra v Jack Daniel's: two attorneys at law on the settlement rocks please
What one spots in Court does not neccesarily match with what happens between the parties and their attorneys-at-law behind the scenes. As a general rule, correspondence between the attorneys-at-law is privileged and confidential. In the Netherlands few exceptions are available. One of these exceptions is where in the correspondence between the attorneys-at-law, a binding agreement between their respective clients has been reached. Evidencing this in court is not as easy as it seems: filing the correspondence is not allowed as such and might result in a complaint at the Dutch Bar Association. The Dutch - always fond of and good in finding third ways - created a third way: a party who wishes to rely in court on correspondence between the attorneys-at-law, may seek advice of the local Dean of the Bar Association. This process can be time-consuming since the Dean might advise that certain parts of the correspondence are strictly confidential between the attorney-at-laws and other parts might be found suitable to evidence the alleged agreement.
Read more: http://www.marques.org/class46/Default.asp?XID=BHA4177
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