Now also available as
eBook
Although the European harmonisation of trademark law started more than two
decades ago and is now quite robust, heretofore practitioners have had no
easily accessible and comprehensive description and analysis of this regime to
rely upon in their work, despite the existence of commentaries of the
Directive and Regulation on trademarks. Now, European Trademark Law describes
all relevant developments in both legislation and case law, in particular of
the Court of Justice, offering not only a succinct introduction to the theory,
structure and nature of trademark law, but also insightful suggestions for
resolving and answering a host of practical problems. As the authors note,
their book provides an ‘overview of trademark law rather than an overview of
trademark legislation.’ The authors view the law from different perspectives;
they take both the European perspective and the perspective from harmonised
national trademark law, in particular as it is in the Benelux countries.
Paying particular attention to the implications of the considerable stream of
case law that has followed from partially new doctrines set in place by the
harmonization process, the book greatly clarifies the workings and
interrelations of such factors as the following:
• situations that did not constitute infringement under former trademark law
but do constitute infringement today and vice versa;
• different types of marks and their particularities;
• registration and opposition procedures;
• relevant international treaties;
• requirements for the mark;
• grounds for refusal and invalidity;
• scope of and limitations to trademark protection;
• use of trademarks in comparative advertising;
• referential use of trademarks;
• use of trademarks on the internet;
• exhaustion of rights, parallel trade;
• concepts of well known trademarks and trademarks with a reputation;
• procedural aspects of enforcing trademark rights;
• how trademark rights are lost.
The analysis also covers specific aspects of the trademark right that are
related to other legal areas, such as property law, trade name law, the law
regarding geographical indications of origin, copyright law, competition law,
and product liability. An especially valuable part of the book’s presentation
follows the ‘life’ of a trademark from filing the application up to and
including its cancellation, revocation or invalidity.
Intellectual property lawyers, judges, academics and in-house counsel will
greatly appreciate this very useful guide to the current state of trademark
law practice in Europe.
