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Liability of the Applicant for Interim Measures Ordered on the Basis of Industrial/Intellectual Property Rights Following the Revocation of Such Measures

Judgment of the Court of Justice of January 11, 2024, Mylan (C-473/22) Facts: This judgment arises from a request for a preliminary ruling submitted by the Finnish courts to the Court of Justice regarding the interpretation and scope of Article 9(7) of Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (“Directive 2004/48”). […]

Software Protection and Modification of Variables During Execution

Judgment of the Court of Justice of October 17, 2024, Sony (C-159/23). Facts: The case involves a dispute between Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd (“Sony”), the distributor of the PlayStation Portable (PSP) console and its games, and Datel Design and Development Ltd (“Datel”), a manufacturer of accessories and complementary software such as Action Replay PSP and Tilt […]

Conflict Between a Protected Wine Designation and an Earlier Well-Known Trademark

Judgment of the Court of Justice of September 11, 2025, Salaparuta (C-341/24). Facts: Duca di Salaparuta S.p.A. is the owner of several trademarks that include the word “Salaparuta” for wines in Class 33, including: Italian Trademark No. 511337 SALAPARUTA, registered on July 13, 1989; European Union Trademark No. 001302835 […]

Rights Management by Independent Management Organizations.

Judgment of the Court of Justice of March 21, 2024, Jamendo (C-10/22). Facts: The judgment arises from the dispute between Liberi editori e autori (“LEA”) and Jamendo regarding the intermediary activities that Jamendo is carrying out in the field of copyright in Italy, enabling authors and rights holders of […]

Scope of the limitation on the effects of the trademark.

Judgment of the Court of Justice of January 11, 2024, Inditex (C-361/22) Facts The Spanish Supreme Court has submitted a request for a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of Article 6(1)(c) of Directive 89/104/EEC. The request was submitted in the context of a dispute between Industria de Diseño […]

The Court of Justice confirms that, to obtain a CCP, the “first AC” is the one granted first, even if it is no longer in effect at the time of application

Order of the Court of Justice of July 16, 2024, Genmab (C-181/24) Facts The pharmaceutical company Genmab obtained an initial marketing authorization (“MA”) for a medicinal product “A” containing the active ingredient ofatumumab (the “previous MA”). It subsequently revoked that MA. Some time later, Genmab obtained a second MA (the “subsequent MA”) for a new […]

“Public Notice” in a Leased Building

Judgment of the Court of Justice of June 20, 2024, GEMA (C-135/23). Facts: The case stems from a dispute between the collective management organization GEMA and GL, a company that operates an apartment building in Germany. GL installed televisions equipped with indoor antennas in several of the apartments, which allow for the reception of […]

Burden of proof regarding the first sale of products from parallel imports by the trademark owner or with the owner’s consent

Judgment of the Court of Justice of January 18, 2024, Hewlett Packard (C-367/21) Facts This judgment arises from a request for a preliminary ruling submitted by the Polish courts to the Court of Justice regarding the interpretation and scope of Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No. 207/2009 on the Community trademark (now Article 15(1) of Regulation […]

The concept of an “informed user” for designs that allow for the assembly or connection of multiple, mutually interchangeable products within a modular system

Judgment of the Court of Justice of September 4, 2025, LEGO (C-211/24). Facts of the LEGO Case A/S (hereinafter “LEGO”) is the owner of EU designs Nos. 001950981-0001 and 002137190-0002, relating to building blocks belonging to a building set, and registered on November 22, 2011 […]

Mandatory Assignment of Performers' Rights in Public Orchestras.

Judgment of the Court of Justice of March 6, 2025, Orchestre national de Belgique (C-575/23). 1. Key Facts of the Case The case arises from a dispute between several musicians of the Orchestre national de Belgique and the Belgian State, following the adoption of a Royal Decree dated June 1 […]

Declaratory Action for the Non-Existence of a Trademark Infringement Due to Exhaustion of Rights

Supreme Court Decision of June 30, 2025, Ron Barceló (ECLI:ES:TS:2025:3307) 1. Facts Several beverage distributors filed a lawsuit against Barceló Comercial Internacional, S.A. and Importaciones y Exportaciones de Varma, S.A., seeking a declaration that these companies had acted unlawfully by asserting their rights to the Ron Barceló trademark to prohibit the […]

Conditions for granting a CCP for a combination of active ingredients.

Judgment of the Court of Justice of December 19, 2024, Teva Finland (C-119/22 and C-149/22) 1. Facts The case arises from applications for a supplementary protection certificate (“SPC”) filed by Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC based on a European patent (“basic patent”) covering a DPP-4 inhibitor active ingredient (sitagliptin) and […]

“Communication with the public” at a hotel.

Judgment of the Court of Justice of April 11, 2024, Citadines (C-723/22). 1. Facts: The judgment stems from a request for a preliminary ruling submitted by the Munich Regional Civil and Criminal Court (Landgericht München I) in the context of the dispute between Citadines Betriebs GmbH (“Citadines”) and MPLC Deutschland GmbH b (“MPLC”), in […]

Use in replacement parts of components designed to attach emblems representing the brand

Judgment of the Court of Justice of January 25, 2024, AUDI (C-334/22) 1. Facts: AUDI, a car manufacturer, is the owner of European Union figurative mark No. 000018762, reproduced below, the protection of which extends, among other goods and services, to “land, air, and water vehicles, and parts thereof […]”

Applied Art. Definition of Copyright and Industrial Designs

Judgment of the Court of Justice of December 4, 2025, Mio et al. (C-580/23 and C-795/23). 1. Facts The judgment concerns two preliminary ruling questions, decided jointly, that had been referred by courts in Sweden and Germany regarding the infringement of intellectual property rights. In the first of the cases, […]

Jurisdiction of the courts of a Member State to hear cases involving infringements of foreign patents validated in other Member States or third countries

Judgment of the Court of Justice of February 25, 2025, BSH v. Electrolux (C-339/22) 1. Facts This judgment arises from a request for a preliminary ruling submitted by the Swedish courts to the Court of Justice regarding the interpretation and scope of Article 24(4) of the Brussels I Regulation 1215/2012 (“BR”). The facts of the case were as follows: […]

EU Member States may not apply the “substantive reciprocity” criterion set forth in Article 2.7 of the Berne Convention to works of applied art whose country of origin is not a Member State

Judgment of the Court of Justice of October 24, 2024, Kwantum (C-227/23) 1. Facts The Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra holds the intellectual property rights to furniture designs created by Charles and Ray Eames (U.S. nationals), including, among others, the “DSW chair.” Vitra has brought an action against […]

Continued Interest in Appealing Despite the Subsequent Loss of the Prior Right

Judgment of the Court of Justice of June 20, 2024, (C-801/21 P) 1. Facts On June 17, 2017, Mr. Hamid Ahmad Chakari filed an application for a European Union trademark to identify rice products in Classes 30 and 31, the graphic representation of which was as follows: Abresham Super Basmati […]

The right of the owner of a national trademark to prohibit a third party from offering, marketing, or stocking products bearing identical or similar marks in a different Member State

Judgment of the Court of Justice of August 1, 2025, Tradeinn Retail Services (C-76/24). 1. Facts Company PH, the owner of two registered trademarks in Germany, filed a lawsuit in German courts against the Spanish company Tradeinn Retail Services S.L. (hereinafter “TRS”), because TRS was offering, through its website and the […]

Fair compensation for private copying and reprography

Judgment of the Court of Justice of November 14, 2024, Reprobel (C-230/23). 1. Facts The dispute arose in Belgium between Reprobel CV (“Reprobel”), a collective management organization designated by the Belgian government to ensure the collection and distribution of the remuneration provided for under national law for the making of copies of works […]

Autonomy and the Possibility of Concurrent Grounds for Absolute Nullity Relating to a Product’s Functional Form and Bad Faith

Judgment of the Court of Justice of June 19, 2025, (C-17/24) 1. Facts CeramTec GmbH is a German company engaged in the manufacture of ceramic components for medical prostheses. The company was the holder of a patent relating to a ceramic material colored with chromium oxide, which expired in August 2011. Shortly […]

Design Protection Requirements in the Footwear and Low-Cost Fashion Sectors

Judgment of the Court of Justice of December 18, 2025, Deity Shoes (C-323/24). 1. Facts Deity Shoes (hereinafter “Deity”) is a company based in Elche that holds several EU designs relating to footwear. Its designs are created based on catalogs from Chinese trading companies, which offer predetermined components, and […]

Lack of international jurisdiction of the Spanish court to hear a case involving an infringement of intellectual property rights in Qatar

Supreme Court Decision of February 26, 2025, Farola Latina (ECLI:ES:TS:2025:735) 1. Facts The decision stems from a lawsuit filed in Barcelona by a Spanish architect against the company Ashghal and the State of Qatar for infringement of intellectual property rights regarding a certain design for a streetlight model […]

Confirmation That Actions Based on Bad Faith Are Not Subject to a Statute of Limitations

Judgment of the Court of Justice of July 10, 2025, Jabugo (C-322/24) 1. Facts: Sánchez Romero Carvajal is the proprietor of the following EU trademarks in Class 29: Embutidos Monells, for its part, is the proprietor of the following Spanish national trademarks, also in Class 39: In 2016, Sánchez Romero Carvajal sued Embutidos […]

February 23, 2026

Requirement of technical plausibility to assess inventive step

Supreme Court Decision of April 24, 2025, Teva (ECLI:ES:TS:2025:1714) 1. Facts The dispute involves the pharmaceutical company Teva and the owner of a European patent relating to a compound intended for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Teva sought partial invalidation of the patent on the grounds of lack of inventive step, arguing that the […]

February 23, 2026

Equitable remuneration for phonograms

Judgment of the Court of Justice of July 10, 2025, DADA (C-37/24) 1. Facts The judgment stems from a request for a preliminary ruling submitted by the Curtea de Apel București (hereinafter, the Bucharest Court of Appeals, Romania) in the context of a dispute between the Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România (hereinafter, […]

February 23, 2026

The Statute of Limitations Based on Tolerance in Trademark Matters

Judgment of the Court of Justice of August 1, 2025, Lunapark (C-452/24) 1. Facts Lunapark has been the owner of the registered trademark DRACULA for confectionery products since 2009. Prior to that registration, the company Karkkimies used the sign “Dracula” to market similar products, without having acquired any trademark rights. In 2019, Hardeco purchased […]

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