May a water be called Organic Mineral Water?

The Competition Center of Bad Homberg (Germany) filed a lawsuit against the German brewery Lammsbräu selling a mineral water named Biomineralwasser (organic mineral water). The Competition Center is of the opinion that the naming of the water is misleading for the consumer. The brewery advertises its water being extraordinary pure and untreated as well as exceeding to the legal quality standards. Lammsbräu also uses a self created quality-label which is quite similar to the official German organic-certificate.

Warning statements for food coloring

In January 2009 Regulation (EC) No. 1333/2008 on food additives came into force. The Regulation defines the labeling of products comprising food coloring.

Bunny business

The never-ending confusion about the likelihood of chocolate Easter-bunnies has entered its next round. The German High Court (BGH) recently overruled a decision of the Higher Regional Court (OLG) of Frankfurt (Case I ZR 57/08).

Apple vs. DOPi

Apple recently lost its lawsuit against Wholesale Central’s trademark application “DOPi” in Australia. Apple marks its products with the small letter “i” at the beginning (iPOD, iBOOK) and keeps an eye on possible trademark infringements of other companies using a small “i” with their trademarks. The wholesaler just turned the word iPOD around and applied for trademark registration in Australia. According to Wholesale Central “DOPi” stands for “Digital Options and Personalised Items”. The court having jurisdiction dismissed the case. There was no risk of confusion between the two marks and Apple was not able to prove that the public would believe that the products are Apple products just because of the small “i”. Apple cannot claim a monopoly on the letter “i” and also the two opposing device marks “Apple” and “DOPi” do not have similar appearance at all. (see macnotes.de v. 16.03.2010)

October 2010 | Inga Höfener

Becker v. Barbara Becker

Barbara Becker accomplished her Community Trademark (CTM) application “Barbara Becker” against Hamann’s CTM “Becker”.