|Gert Würtenberger| A Union trademark that has been registered for more than five years is subject to the user requirement in order to safeguard its enforceability in opposition and/or infringement proceedings (as regards proof of use in opposition proceedings, see Article 47(2) EUTMR). Whether genuine use has occurred is, according to established case law, to […]
Continue readingNew EU plant health rules
|Gert Würtenberger| The need for measures to secure plant health has long been recognized. They have formed the subject of international agreements and international conventions including International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) of 6 December 1951, concluded at the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and its new, revised text approved by the FAO Conference […]
Continue readingAmendments of the rules of procedure of the Court of Justice of the European Union
|Gert Würtenberger| On 1 May 2019 important changes of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice entered into force. It relates to decisions of an independent Board of Appeal of one of the following Offices and Agencies of the EU, namely of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) the Community […]
Continue readingBrexit
|Gert Würtenberger| At this stage it is unclear whether the United Kingdom will leave the EU without having achieved an agreement with the European Union. Thus, it is important to know how plant variety rights granted on the Union level or applications pending with the CPVO will be dealt with once the United Kingdom no […]
Continue readingProof to be established to achieve nullity of a granted plant variety right
|Gert Würtenberger| A party had requested the cancellation of a CPVR for an apple variety on the grounds that the variety had no longer been uniform or stable for a certain period of time. As proof for the allegation, the Applicant inter alia submitted 6 photographs of the attacked variety. These photographs had been taken […]
Continue readingPublic Interest and Compulsory Licences
|Gert Würtenberger| In its decision dated 28 March 2018 the CPVO decided about an application for grant of a compulsory licence pursuant to Article 29 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2100/94 of 27 July 1994 on Community Plant Variety Rights in respect of a blackcurrant variety. The Applicant had failed to achieve a favourable outcome […]
Continue readingBrexit: What will happen with Community Variety Rights
|Gert Würtenberger| With regard to the pending withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union there is only one certainty up to this point: on 29 March 2019 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will leave the European Union (Brexit). On that day Community plant varieties rights will cease to have effect […]
Continue readingInvalidation and Nullity Proceedings – What is the Duty of the CPVO
|Gert Würtenberger| As the conditions laid down in Articles 7 (distinctness), 8 (uniformity), 9 (stability) and 10 (novelty) are prerequisites for the grant of a Community plant variety right, the same is unlawful if it turns out that one of these conditions is not or no longer given. In this case, it is in the […]
Continue readingCompulsory License and Plant Variety Rights
|Gert Würtenberger| The President of the Community Plant Variety Office (CPV), Mr. Martin Ekvad, reported in a recent conference on the Intellectual Property Protection for Plant Innovation in Amsterdam on 30 November and 1 December 2017 that the CPVO has received a first request for a compulsory license. According to that provision, a compulsory license […]
Continue readingJudgment of the General Court of 13 July 2017 – Case T-767/14
|Gert Würtenberger| One of the prerequisites for obtaining a Union plant variety right for a breeding result is that the variety is new. A variety will be deemed to be new if, at the date of application, variety constituents or harvested material of the variety have not been sold or otherwise disposed of to others […]
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