Trademarks, Brands, Patents, Designs, Made in Italy, Copyrights, Competition Law, Contracts and Enforcement

17 ottobre 2007

'Win' come "Windows"

Stefano Sandri

Intervideo inc. si e vista rifiutare la registrazione del marchio comunitario winDVD creator, prima dall’esaminatore, poi dalla Commissione di Ricorso ed infine dal TPI (Case T 105/06), del 17 ottobre perchè ritenuto descrittivo. In particolare ‘win’ è stato ritenuto abbreviazione di WINDOWS. Per la verità l’abbreviazione rimanda anche ad altri significati, ma, come sappiamo, è sufficiente che anche uno solo di essi sia percepito come descrittivo perché il marchio perda la distintività (Case C-191/01 P OHIM v Wrigley, 32, e NURSERYROOM, 19). Per il resto, la sentenza fa applicazione piana dei principi in tema di descrittività ed intende purpose, per cui è ampiamente condivisibile, anche se IPKat è disturbato dal fatto che in realtà WINDOWS è di per sé tutt’altro che descrittivo.

1 commento:

Anonimo ha detto...

WINDOWS is not descriptive?
Perhaps IpKat is not aware of the case WINDOWS vs. LINDOWS. back in 2003 Microsoft filed a preliminary injunction motion designed to prevent infringement of the Windows mark by Lindows.com. The court denied Microsoft's motion, finding that there were serious questions whether Windows was non-generic and thus eligible for protection by federal trademark law. Lindows thus filed a motion for summary judgment. Lindows argued that Windows is generic, and therefore was not protected under federal trademark law.
Lindows supported its motion with evidence demonstrating repeated references to compound terms such as "window manager" and "windowing environment" and showing that companies such as Xerox, Apple and Digital Research had used the term "windows" generically since the mid-1960s.
The court concluded that both sides had presented significant evidence supporting their arguments. Accordingly, the court was not able to make a ruling prior to trial as to whether or not Windows is a generic term that is incapable of trademark protection. Thus, the case was ordered to proceed to trial. Of course no one knows how the Court would have ruled because the parties settled.
But the question on WINDOWS remains.
Another issue is the OHIM's decision which really does not make sense...
FA