EU Trademarks: CJEU obliges EUIPO to accept staggered partial renewal requests

In its judgment in case C-207/15 P, published on 22 June 2016, the CJEU found in favour of Nissan Jidosha KK and against the EUIPO in ex parte proceedings relating to the possibility of renewing an EU trademark in two stages.

Nissan had requested, within the six months preceding the due date, the partial renewal, in two classes, of a trademark registered in three. Subsequently, within the six-month grace period after the due date, the registrant submitted a further request for renewal in the remaining class, which the Office turned down.

Why was that? According to the EUIPO, the request for partial renewal in just two of the three classes in which the trademark had been granted registration entailed the surrender of the third class. The Office also maintained that reasons of legal certainty entered into play, given that the partial renewal in two classes had already been entered on the records, Nissan had been notified thereof, erga omnes effects had consequently been created and Nissan could therefore not be allowed to go back on its initial decision not to renew the trademark in the third class.

The EUIPO thus interpreted article 50 (relating to surrender) broadly and article 47 (relating to renewal) narrowly, contrary to the interests of Nissan in both cases.

However, in its judgment the CJEU has held that “it is not apparent from those provisions that the submission, during the periods referred to in Article 47(3) of Regulation No 207/2009, of requests for renewal of an EU trade mark, staggered over time and relating to different classes of goods or services, is prohibited”.

It seems strange that both the EUIPO and the General Court should have interpreted those provisions in a manner adverse to the interests of the trademark owner, rather than in favour thereof, when the controversy arose out of a gap in the regulations and the registrant and its representative acted entirely within the bounds of the law (at least according to the German, Portuguese, Finnish and Dutch language versions of article 47.3)

It is also rather surprising that the EUIPO should have come out so strongly in defence of legal certainty when we all know perfectly well that there is a six-month grace period for the renewal of an EU trademark and, therefore, that one should never assume that the registration may have lapsed until that term has expired. It appears to us that we should be equally cautious and draw no conclusions until after the expiry of that term in cases where the registration has been renewed but only partially.

We all look for legal certainty, but in doing so we ought to be consistent. From this standpoint, to deny a trademark owner the right to renew a registration in two stages, while the grace period is still running, would not seem logical when, in contrast, insufficient attention is paid to the need to keep the information on the status of the trademarks in the EUIPO databases current. On occasions updates are subject to delays of some months and this circumstance evidently generates uncertainty.

Author: Ramón Cañizares

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The Rubik’s cube: a shape necessary to obtain a technical result or a distinctive sign?

The outward appearance of goods is having an ever more important bearing on the decision of the consumer to make a given purchase. As a result, the filing of applications for three-dimensional trademarks, with a view to protecting shapes likely to influence that decision, has become a common practice.

However, the registration of marks of this type, consisting of the shape or representation of a product without anything else, has always been a controversial issue. The problem lies in striking a balance between granting an exclusive right to the trademark owner and avoiding the creation of a monopoly in the marketing of a given product.

From the prohibition on registration laid down in article 7.1e) EUTMR it follows that the three-dimensional trademark cannot and must not act as a system for the protection of technical results. For that purpose there are other more appropriate legal instruments, such as patents or utility models, whose limitation in time is essential to the proper functioning of the system for the protection of inventions.

That prohibition seeks to draw a line between the trademark and patent systems, preventing the grant of an exclusive right without limitation in time which would in practice entail the perpetuation of a monopoly in a technical solution.

At times, however, it is not easy to pinpoint those representations whose purpose is to protect the sign which identifies the business origin of a product rather than the technical features of that product.

The case of the “Rubik’s cube”, which has reached the Court of Justice of the EU, relates to that issue.

In 1999 the British company Seven Towns Ltd registered EU three-dimensional trademark No. 162784, in the shape of the Rubik’s cube, in respect of “three-dimensional puzzles” in class 28.

Elzaburu once again ranked among Spain’s most highly reputed law firms

In 2015 the firm registered a turnover of over 14 million euros for yet another year.

Madrid, 1 June 2016. Elzaburu once again figures among the most prestigious law firms in Spain according to the ranking published annually by the economic and business daily Expansión. A turnover of 14 million euros positions it among the country’s 20 top rated firms.

At the same time the firm has pursued its enlargement plans, increasing the number of lawyers on its staff by 14.3%. Elzaburu is thus among the 25 firms headquartered in Spain which most strengthened their workforce in 2015.

Elzaburu ranks fourteenth in terms of invoicing per practitioner with a figure of 235,000 euros. This is significantly higher than the average in Spain, which in 2015 was 190,887 euros per practitioner. In terms of invoicing purely by lawyer, Elzaburu moves up to tenth place on the ranking.

Year on year, experience and professionalism have proved to be the twin pillars of the firm, ensuring Elzaburu a place among the best in Spain.