The European General Court (EGC) ruled that the shape of the new Coca-Cola bottle cannot be protected as a three-dimensional trademark because it is devoid of any distinctive character (Case T-411/14, Judgement of 24 February 2016). Background of the Case and Subject Matter In December 2011, the famous Coca-Cola Company Ltd filed an application for registration of a Community Trademark (CTM) at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) for the following three-dimensional mark for - inter alia – metallic, glass and plastic bottles: [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"4617","attributes":{"class":"media-image size-full wp-image-2701 aligncenter","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"281","height":"311","alt":"Coca Cola neu"}}]] In March 2014, OHIM rejected the application for registration on the ground that the trademark has no distinctive character in respect of the goods covered by the application. Especially, OHIM did not follow the Coca-Cola Company’s arguments that the trademark should be regarded as a natural evolution of its famous iconic bottle (the contoured bottle with fluting – see below). [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"4618","attributes":{"class":"media-image size-full wp-image-2702 aligncenter","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"204","height":"234","alt":"Coca Cola besser"}}]] Therefore, the Coca-Cola Company appealed against the decision of OHIM. Decision of the Court  But, finally even the EGC followed the argumentation of OHIM’s argements. First, the court stated the consumer is accustomed to a wide range of variants of shapes of bottles. Therefore, consumers are, in general, not enable to see the shape of the bottle as an indication of its origin. The Coca-Cola bottle is no exception because - in contrast to the famous contoured Coca-Cola bottle with the fluting - the new bottle does not possess any characteristics that distinguish it from the other bottles which are available on the market. Secondly, the EGC noticed that Coca-Cola has failed to establish that the sign had acquired distinctive character through use. Therefore, the court decided to dismiss the action brought by the Coca-Cola Company.

[[{"type":"media","fid":"4616","view_mode":"media_large","instance_fields":"override","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-2690 alignright","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"234","height":"234"}}]] The German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that smartphone apps can – in principal – be protected as work titles (Case I ZR 202/14, Judgement of 28 January 2016). Background of the Case and Subject Matter The complainant operates a website that offers local weather data and other information about the topic weather under the domain “wetter.de” (Note: The German word “wetter” means “weather”). In 2009, the domain holder started to also provide this information as an application for mobile devices under the designation “wetter.de” The defendant is holder of the domain “wetter.at” and “wetter-deutschland.com” and also provides weather data on the internet. In 2011, he also started an application under the designations “wetter DE”, “wetter-de” und “wetter-DE”. The complainant is convinced that the behavior of the defendant infringes his commercial rights of the domain name and his application designation “wetter.de”. Therefore, he demands the defendant to cease and desist from further infringing actions and for damage compensation. Decision of the BGH First, the BGH notes that domain names relating to internet services and applications for mobile devices can in general be protected as work titles. But, the designation “wetter.de” for weather data is devoid of any distinctive character because it is just a description of the content of the offered services. Finally, the court came to the result that the defendant was not able to prove that the requirement of distinctiveness can be neglected because of market recognition of at least 50 percent. Press here to read the BGH’s press release in German.

Every April 26 – the day on which the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) Convention came into force in 1970 – the World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated to promote discussions of the role of intellectual property in encouraging innovation and creativity. The WIPO’s member states designated this day with the aim of increasing the general understanding of intellectual property, including trademarks, copyrights, designs, patents, utility models etc. Each year, a special topic and focus is picked. [[{"type":"media","fid":"4614","view_mode":"media_large","instance_fields":"override","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-2658 aligncenter","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"492","height":"275"}}]] The 2016 World IP Day Theme This year’s World Intellectual Property Day 2016 focuses on the theme: “Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined”. Cultural works such as films, TV, music, books, art, etc., have long crossed borders. However, the Wi-Fi era is transforming how consumable culture is created, distributed and enjoyed in markets that are expanding far beyond national borders. Accessible digital technologies have swept away physical constraints, which is feeding the imagination of artists and creators in a new way as it opens for cross-cultural collaboration. The creative work of creators and artists is also easy accessible for the digital consumer, as we read, watch and listen to the works of countless creators from across the world, wherever, whenever and however we want. Reimagining culture – how we create, access and finance it- has its challenges. The challenge of a flexible and adaptive intellectual property system is to ensure that the artists and creative industries in our digital word can be properly paid for their work, so that they can and will keep creating. Therefore, WIPO has decided that we should explore some of the issues surrounding our cultural future. Both experts on creativity in the digital market and creators themselves will on this day elaborate on where they think we are heading. Events on the World IP Day 2016 The World IP Day offers a unique opportunity each year to join interesting events all over the world. For information about events near you, please check out the “World Map of IP Day events 2016” here. Also, join the World IP Day discussions on Facebook and Twitter – and use the #worldipday hashtag in your posts. For more information about the World Intellectual Property Day 2016, press here.

[[{"type":"media","fid":"4613","view_mode":"media_large","instance_fields":"override","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-2645 alignright","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"142","height":"202"}}]] The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, has recently published the Global Innovation Index (GII) Report about the latest trends in intellectual property (IP) activity worldwide. Patent and Trademark filings showed a strong growth in 2014 while industrial design applications declined for the first time in two decades. Trademarks Trademark applications reached a new record in 2014 with a total number of 7.45 million classes specified in applications. As you can see below the increase of 6% was driven by filings in the Trademark Office in China with 2.22 million trademark application, followed by the United States of America (471,228), the European Union (333,443), France (269,837) and Japan (242,073). [[{"type":"media","fid":"4610","view_mode":"media_large","instance_fields":"override","attributes":{"class":"media-image alignnone size-full wp-image-2642","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"517","height":"202"}}]] Most of the applications are made in the advertising and business management sector (9.8% of the total filing activity), followed by the clothing industry and by scientific, photographic, measuring instruments, recording equipment, computers and software. Below you can see the trademark applications by top three sectors. In Germany, most applications are made in the area of research and technology area. [[{"type":"media","fid":"4611","view_mode":"media_large","instance_fields":"override","attributes":{"class":"media-image alignnone size-full wp-image-2643","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"540","height":"202"}}]] Patents Innovators marked a worldwide annual rise of 4.5 % in 2014 by filing 2.7 million patent applications. The top five Patent Offices worldwide are China with 928,177 applications in 2014, followed by the United States (578,802), Japan (325,989), the Republic of Korea (210,292) and the European Patent Office (152,662) (see below). [[{"type":"media","fid":"4612","view_mode":"media_large","instance_fields":"override","attributes":{"class":"media-image alignnone size-full wp-image-2644","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"537","height":"218"}}]] Most applications worldwide in 2014 were made in the fields of computer technology, electrical machinery, measurement, digital communication and medical technology. The last two sectors have been the two fastest growing technological fields since 1995. Designs After a 20 year period of growth, the total number of industrial designs dropped by 8.1% to about 1.14 million applications in 2014. The fall was mainly due to a sharp decrease in filings by Chinese residents. For more detailed information and the full report including charts, overviews and other statistics please see:  http://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_941_2015.pdf