“Trademark Law Aspects of Real Estate Business Law” – Article by Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt in the multidisciplinary “Handbuch Immobilienwirtschaftsrecht”

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In the first edition of the “Handbuch Immobilienwirtschaftsrecht”, published in 2022, BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and attorney at law Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt discusses trademark aspects of real estate business law.

This concerns protection concepts, utilization and exploitation concepts, transfer of rights, infringement claims and expiration of protection of trademarks and business designations in the context of the real estate industry, from planning to construction to management and exploitation of real estate projects.

Das “Handbuch Immobilienwirtschaftsrecht” covers the entire life cycle of a real estate project, starting with project organization, through acquisition, utilization, operation and real estate financing, to real estate capital market law and exploitation, in each case taking into account the framework of civil and public law. The Handbook of Real Estate Business Law is edited by Guido Meyer, lawyer and head of the legal department of a real estate business in Düsseldorf. It unites as authors scientists and practitioners in a cross-disciplinary new standard work.

Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt discusses in GRUR-Prax ECJ decision on missing a time limit for appeal during a pandemic

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In issue 10/2022 of “GRUR-Prax – Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht / Praxis im Immaterialgüter- und Wettbewerbsrecht” BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and attorney at law Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt discusses a decision of the ECJ of March 24, 2022 (T-544/21, GRUR-RS 2022, 6292) on missing a time limit for appeal during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Chaotic conditions during the Covid 19 pandemic are neither unforeseeable nor force majeure”

The court states that fortuity and force majeure only exist in the case of objective, extraordinary circumstances with inevitable consequences outside the sphere of influence of the affected party, against which the latter cannot subjectively take precautions without making unreasonable sacrifices in order to avoid a legal disadvantage.

At the time of service of the first-instance decision in the fall of 2021, the Covid 19 pandemic had not been an abnormal or unforeseeable circumstance, but had been known for more than a year, and restrictions on public and private life no longer changed this, insofar as the lockdown had not been complete. Appropriate precautionary and preparatory measures would have to be taken to ensure the processing of deadline-bound transactions within a prolonged global pandemic situation.

Dr. Böckenholt’s article in German can be found in the printed edition of GRUR-Prax 10/2022 of May 18, 2022 on page 297 or for subscribers of Beck-Online here.

Dr. Martin Schaefer comments in GRUR on the ECJ ruling: Compensation obligation for stored private copies of protected works in the cloud – Austro-Mechana/Strato

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In GRUR issue 8/2022, 558 of April 15, 2022, BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and attorney at law Dr. Martin Schaefer comments on a decision of the European Court of Justice of March 24, 2022 – C-433/20 (Austro-Mechana/Strato) on the mandatory statutory remuneration for private copies of protected works stored in the cloud. 

The background is the legal dispute between GEMA´s Austrian sister organisation, Austro-Mechana, and Strato AG, a German provider of cloud services. The Vienna Higher Regional Court had submitted a request for a preliminary ruling to the European Court of Justice, concerning two questions relating to Art. 5 II lit. b InfoSoc Directive (2001/29). 

In his note to the ECJ judgement in GRUR 2022, 558, Dr. Martin Schaefer comments on the argumentation, employed by the ECJ, followed by conclusions presenting ideas for new ways to deal with the situation created by the CJEU´s ruling. 

Users of GRUR can download the commentary by Dr. Martin Schaefer here.

Dr. Ute Kilger writes about the “Digitalisation of Medicine” in the trade magazine Plattform Life Sciences

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The digitalisation of medicine – a challenge also for patenting 

Artificial intelligence, augmented reality, robotics, machine learning and big data are the trends and challenges of our time and will also revolutionise our healthcare system.
But how can innovations in these technical fields be protected? What needs to be considered when patenting software-based processes? After all, therapeutic and diagnostic procedures on the human body as well as software are generally excluded from patentability in Europe.

BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and patent attorney Dr. Ute Kilger deals with these questions in her article “Digitalisation of Medicine” in the March 2022 issue of the trade journal Plattform Life Sciences.
In this article, Dr. Kilger appeals to take these new challenges into consideration when drafting a patent application and summarises that corresponding technical expertise with regard to software, medical devices and life sciences will be indispensable in the future.

The article by Dr. Ute Kilger on page 44 of the journal is available online in German here.

“General Court overrules previous instance: No likelihood of confusion between CODY’S and CODE-X for marks in beverages sector” – Article by Dr. Florian Schwab in WTR

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On the online portal of the trade journal World Trademark Review (WTR), BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner Dr. Florian Schwab discusses a recent trademark law decision of the General Court in (T-198/21) Ancor Group GmbH v. European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of February 23, 2022. 

The court set aside the decision of the Board of Appeal of the EUIPO and – upholding the decision of the Opposition Division – finally rejected the opposition based on the word and figurative marks CODY’S against the word mark CODE-X (essentially each claiming beverages in class 42 of the Nice classification). 

In contrast to the Board of Appeal, the European judges found no likelihood of confusion between the marks. They based their decision primarily on the fact that CODY’S and CODE-X are visually and phonetically similar, at most, to an average degree. The hyphen creates a syllabic and visual break, which does not apply to the apostrophe. For goods in the beverage sector, it cannot be assumed that they are primarily ordered orally (for example in a busy and noisy bar where phonetic differences may not be clearly perceived) and, thus, the phonetic comparison is not per se primarily relevant. 

In Dr. Schwab’s opinion, the result reached by the court is convincing. It is worth noting that the overruling of the Board of Appeal is more the exception than the rule in EU trademark matters. 

The full article in English is available online for registered users of WTR here!

“Full company name and geographical address are essential information in advertisements”. Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt on OLG Celle decision in new GRUR-Prax article.

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In issue 1/2022 of “GRUR-Prax – Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht / Praxis im Immaterialgüter- und Wettbewerbsrecht” BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and attorney-at-law Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt discusses a decision of the OLG Celle of 08.09.2021 (13 U 44/21, GRUR-RS 2021, 34492) on the mandatory indication of the full company name and
geographical address in advertisements.

The court held that the advertising entrepreneur may not omit essential information in an invitation to purchase in an advertisement solely because it considers other information to be more suitable for achieving its advertising purpose. Spatial restrictions of the means of communication are only to be assumed in the case of an invitation to purchase if it is objectively impossible to provide the essential information on the purchase. An invitation to purchase already exists in the case of information about the advertised product and the price, which is sufficient to enable a business decision to be made, without it actually having to be possible to purchase the product.

Dr. Böckenholt’s article in German is available in the printed edition of GRUR-Prax 1/2022 of January 12, 2022 on page 23 or for subscribers of Beck-Online here.

Dr. Dennis Kretschmann and Dr. Michael Rüberg on the European Unitary Patent in legaleraonline.com

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After almost 50 years of preparation, the European Unitary Patent could come into force in the close future. Optimistic voices assume an implementation in 2023 or already at the end of 2022.

But what do patent owners and managers of patent portfolios need to consider in advance? Will the future European Unitary Patent System only affect newly granted patents or also existing European (bundle) patents? Can patents invalidated in some European countries be maintained in other European countries? And are opt-out options available?

Patent attorney Dr. Dennis Kretschmann and attorney at law Dr. Michael Rüberg answer these and other questions in their article on the website of the Indian trade magazine Legal Era. In addition, they recommend that all patent owners and managers carefully review the patent portfolios of their companies in Europe and advise prompt strategic consideration of how best to benefit from the new system and which patents should be submitted for registration and which should not.
A short description of the historical development of the European Unitary Patent and the challenges on the way to its realization complete this informative article.

The article “The European Unitary Patent System is finally back on track and is now scheduled to arrive mid/end 2022 already” appeared on https://www.legaleraonline.com on December 20, 2021.

Dr. Dennis Kretschmann on the European unitary patent and the reform of the German patent law in the magazine “The Patent Lawyer” and on the website of the “4iP Council”

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After decades of effort, the European unitary patent seems to be on the home straight. The purpose of the project, which was already envisaged in the 1970s, is to be able to enforce patents before a Unified Patent Court (UPC) with effect for all participating EU member states. After significant delays due to Brexit and constitutional complaints filed against the German ratification, the preparations have recently resumed, and the unitary patent system is currently expect to swing into action in late 2022 or early 2023. In parallel, Germany is currently revising its national patent litigation system and provides for a proportionality test for injunctive relief and an improved interplay between the infringement proceedings and the nullity proceedings.

BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and patent attorney Dr. Dennis Kretschmann devotes his detailed article “Recent German Court Decisions and Legislation shape the future of Patent Litigation” to these two trend-setting topics in the current issue of the professional journal “The Patent Lawyer” as well as on the website of the European Research Council “4iP Council”.

The article is published in English on page 71 of the September / October 2021 issue of the journal The Patent Lawyer and is available as a PDF here. Visitors to the 4iP Council website can download the article here.

“Patents in Engine Development” – Contribution by Dr. Giulio Schober at the 3rd Freiberg Colloquium on “Electric Drive Technology”

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What industrial property rights are there? How do you apply for a patent and what protection does it provide? BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT patent engineer Dr. Giulio Schober answers these questions in his contribution “Patents in Engine Development” to the 3rd Freiberg Colloquium “Electric Drive Technology”. 

The article begins with a brief overview of the patent as a technical property right and its differentiation from other industrial property rights such as utility models, trademarks and designs. It further outlines some strategies for filing and utilizing patents, especially for start-ups. Finally, the basic structure of a patent application is explained on the basis of the historically important patent “Anker für Wechselstrommotoren” (armature for alternating current motors), which deals with the three-phase asynchronous motor with squirrel-cage rotor. 

Dr. Schober’s article was published in the conference proceedings of the 3rd Freiberg Colloquium on “Electric Drive Technology” at the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg and is available online in German here.

New Article by Prof. Dr. Heinz Goddar on “Dependent Patents in SE Asia” in Les Nouvelles

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In his article “The Fate Of Dependent Patents In Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, And Vietnam – A Comparison With The Situation In Germany And India”, BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and patent attorney Prof. Dr. Goddar and co-author Chandavya Ing. look at the legislation and practice regarding dependent patents in the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, including a comparative view of the situation in Germany and India.

According to the authors, a compulsory licensing system exists in most Southeast Asian countries, but compulsory licences are rarely issued there, and when they are, it is in connection with the patenting of pharmaceuticals.

As a result of this practice, Prof. Dr. Goddar and Chandavya Ing. see a hindrance in the development of new innovative technologies. With a view to preserving the balance between the rights of the right holder of the earlier patent and the rights of subsequent users, the authors recommend an increased use of compulsory licensing to encourage inventions as well as to enable technology transfer for the economic benefit of all.

The article by Prof. Dr. Goddar and Chandavya Ing. appeared in the September 2021 issue of Les Nouvelles on pages 250 to 254 and is available to registered users here.