Can a car’s unique shape or grille be a brand, just like a logo? 🚗🛡
Yes, but it’s one of the toughest legal hurdles in IP! This is the world of Three-Dimensional Trademarks, where a design must be non-functional and instantly recognized by customers as coming from a single company. 🤯
If you stop using your trademark in a foreign country, you could legally lose it! 🤯
This is the scary reality of the “Use It or Lose It” rule that governs trademarks worldwide. When a global brand leaves a market, like Starbucks exiting Russia, they face a ticking clock ⏳ before competitors can snatch their name.
Every signature pose, nickname, and iconic celebration — from Cold Palmer’s shiver to Ronaldo’s Siuuu! — is a valuable, revenue-generating asset waiting to be protected. The secret weapon that turns temporary fame into a lifelong financial empire? Intellectual Property (IP).
This is the central conflict in trademark law: balancing a brand’s need to protect its identity against the public’s need to use common language. The infamous Premier Inn ‘Rest easy’ case is a perfect example of this. ⚖️
As you already know, athletes often register trademarks to strengthen their brand!
Registering their name, nickname, distinctive gestures, or logo as a trademark is a way to protect yourself against unauthorized use in the context of clothing, gadgets, cosmetics, or other products.
In order to protect its brand, Mercedes often engages in intellectual property disputes.
One example is the dispute between Mercedes-Benz and Sany- a Chinese manufacturer of construction machinery. This case concerned the infringement of the Mercedes trademark, but the Court ruled that the three-pointed star trademark is not infringed by a similar three-pointed star trademark owned by Sany, further stating that there is no ‘link’ made by the average consumer between the two logos which would lead to a ‘clear exploitation on the coat-tails of the mark with a reputation’.
After 23 years of litigation, the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of Lacoste in its battle with Crocodile International, prohibiting its competitor from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, advertising or using the disputed trademark in any manner that constitutes infringement of Lacoste’s trademark rights.
It is not only TikTok as a platform that faces challenges related to intellectual property – creators themselves must also increasingly fight for their rights.
A few days ago passed away the legendary Giorgio Armani – the creator of a fashion empire that for decades was synonymous with elegance and innovation.
The August issue of Vogue, which featured a Guess campaign with AI-generated models, sparked a wave of criticism.
