Dr. Florian Schwab discusses current brand case in WTR Daily

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Writing in the online portal of the World Trademark Review, attorney Dr. Florian Schwab reports on the brand conflict of the eponymous motor vehicle manufacturer MAN regarding the Union trademark application MANDO. The European Court of Justice essentially held that there was no likelihood of confusion between the EU word mark MANDO and the higher ranking marks(Case T-698/17, 12 July 2019).

Read the entire article here.

This article appeared on 08.08.2019 in the WTR Daily (part of the World Trademark Review).

Dr. M. Schaefer comments on copyright in “Wandtke/Bullinger”, 5th edition

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As in the previous editions, BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT attorney Dr. Martin Schaefer commented on recording company law in the German Copyright Act in the revised 5th edition of the now published “Practical Commentary on Copyright” by Wandtke/Bullinger (ed.).
The Wandtke/Bullinger commentary is regarded as a distinguished commentary by practitioners due to its strongly application-oriented approach.

The publication can be obtained from Beck Verlag.

Wandtke/Bullinger (ed.), Praxiskommentar zum Urheberrecht, 5th edition, Munich 2019, 5th, newly edited and extended edition 2019. ISBN 978-3-406-71159-6

“Mitteilungen der deutschen Patentanwälte” (2/2019) with contribution from Dr J. Krauß.

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BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT Patent Attorney Dr Jan B. Krauß has contributed an article entitled “Current Developments in Biotechnology: Supplementary Protection Certificates on Fixed-Dose Combination Drugs “Combine: No clarity in sight!”” to the German-language publication “Mitteilungen der deutschen Patentanwälte” (2/2019, page 52 et seq). The article discusses recent case law from the ECJ on the question of when combinations of active substances are protected by a basic patent, as well as the possible impact of this jurisprudence to the practice of pharmaceutical patent registration.

“Mitteilungen der deutschen Patentanwälte” can be subscribed to here.

New edition: “Research Handbook on Patent Law and Theory: Second Edition” by Prof T. Takenaka, et. al.

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BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT Partner Dr Jan B. Krauss is co-author of the “Research Handbook on Patent Law and Theory” published in April 2019. The handbook provides a comprehensive comparative analysis and a current overview of pharma patent law in the US and European legal systems. The handbook, published in English, can be ordered as hardback (512 pages, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd; 2nd Revised edition (26 April 2019), ISBN 978-1785364112).

Dr. M. Schaefer with article in “Manual for the Music Industry”

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C.H.Beck Verlag Munich has published the completely new 7th edition of the “Manual for the Music Industry” by Moser/Scheuermann/Drücke (ed.). BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT lawyer Dr. Martin Schaefer has written the article “Collective rights management in an international context” for this work. The manual is regarded as the standard work of the music industry; a total of 80 well-known authors provide an overview of all areas of the German music industry and its market participants as well as industry-specific legal issues and contract types.

The publication can be obtained from Beck Verlag.

Collective Rights Management in an International Context, In: Moser/Scheuermann/Drücke (Ed.), Handbook for the Music Industry, 7th ed. Munich 2018, pp. 228-246. ISBN 978-3-406-72028-4

Commentary on EU Portability Regulation published and accessible here

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The English-language edition of the commentary on the EU Portability Regulation (2017/1128) has just been published. The authors, Prof. Dr. Jan Bernd Nordemann and Dr. Sebastian Engels, are attorneys at BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT. They already contributed the German-language commentary for the 12th edition 2018 of the renowned Fromm/Nordemann Copyright Commentary.

The freely accessibly online magazine Journal of Intellectual Property, Information Technology and E-Commerce Law (JIPITEC) has now published the English-language commentary. Like every article in the JIPITEC, this is also freely accessible.

The comment can be accessed here; a pdf of the article can be found at the end of the page.

Fromm/Nordemann: Copyright law. Commentary on Copyright Act in 12th edition and 50th anniverary – with various contributions from BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT

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The 12th edition of the renowned commentary has now been published by Prof. Dr. Axel Nordemann, Prof. Dr. Jan Bernd Nordemann and Prof. Dr. Christian Czychowski and (with the exception of the section on copyright crime) has been revised exclusively by BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT lawyers.

This standard commentary for copyright practice includes all statutory innovations – including the Knowledge Society Copyright Act (UrhWissG) enacted on 30 June 2017 – as well as current German and European jurisprudence. The Publishing Act (VerlG) is also commented as is the Portability Ordinance, the first EU regulation in the field of copyright law. New additions include comments on Open Source Software as well as on plagiarism.

Editors from BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT:

Dr. Thomas W. Boddien
Prof. Dr. Christian Czychowski
Dr. Andreas Dustmann, LL.M.
Dr. Sebastian Engels
Prof. Dr. Axel Nordemann
Prof. Dr. Jan Bernd Nordemann, LL.M.
Dr. Anke Nordemann-Schiffel
Dr. Martin Schaefer
Dr. Volker Schmitz-Fohrmann, M. Jur.
Dr. Julian Waiblinger
Dr. Martin Wirtz

You can read an interview about the needs for the revision after just four years on the Beck Verlag website here.

Dr Martin Schaefer takes a wider view of patent law: “Who decides what FRAND is?” (GRUR 6/2018)

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The close collaboration between patent lawyers and solicitors at BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT also makes it possible for two copyright specialists, amongst others Dr. Martin Schaefer to make a critical assessment of one of the most difficult questions of late in patent and competition law regarding copyright. After all, in copyright, there has long been a situation of licensing for mass use similar to that which has now moved into focus in patent law as regarding standard essential patents: “Who decides what FRAND is”? How can standard essential patents be licensed and what are the so-called fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms?

The article presents thoughts on how mechanisms of collective management of copyright could be applied to solve this problem in patent law (GRUR 2018, edition 6, p582 et seq)

For GRUR subscribers the article can be accessed here.

Claim by Deutsche Post AG rejected

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Dr Florian Schwab reports on the complex trademark decision of the European Court of Justice from 20 February 2018 T-118/16)  in the online magazine World Trademark Review.

The Court rejected the likelihood of confusion with the common element POST and rejected the claim brought by Deutsche Post AG.

In a detailed discussions, in particular regarding similarity of word elements, the Court found that the mark overall was sufficiently different due to the preceding word element BE and that the union trademark registration was valid.

Read the entire article here. This article appeared on 13.03.2018 in WTR Daily (component of World Trademark Review).

German Unfair Competition Act (UWG) regulates entries on member structure – Dr Rudolf Böckenholt explains the details in his recent GRUR-Prax article

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In Edition 5/2018 (p. 134), Dr Rudolf Böckenholt explains the decision of the Saarland Higher Regional Court which held that, in accordance with §8(3)(2) UWG, associations must set out their active legitimation as regards member structure without giving rise to an actual presumption from previous actions against third parties. 

The magazine GRUR-Prax can be accessed from the publisher. More details can be found at.