From Messi to Banksy
Registering a trademark is often the first step when entering the market, undertaken by small and big enterprises, as well as “average joes” and superstars. Whether the trademark registration will succeed, however, is not dependent only on the characteristics of the sign or a word to be registered, but sometimes also on the applicant’s special characteristics, such as e.g. extreme fame or their anonymity.
The question of how the applicant’s fame and anonymity can affect trademark protection was discussed by Timotej Kotnik Jesih through the analysis of recent cases involving the footballer Lionel Messi and Banksy, the street artist. His article “From Messi to Banksy: how fame and anonymity of trademark applicants affect trademark protection” was published in Pravna praksa (pp. 14-15) on 15 October 2020.
The article in its entirety (in Slovene) is accessible here.
Creative Commons (CC) annually holds the CC Global Summit events, bringing together experts from different fields with the purpose of spurring on debates and organising workshops related to Open Access. This year’s CC Global Summit 2021 will be a special event as Creative Commons celebrates 20 years!
This year, IPI collaborated with Communia and the Centrum Cyfrowe, which conducted an international study on the use of copyrighted works during remote teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research is now published, and its results were also presented on 15 September 2021. You are invited to take a look at the survey!
On September 2, 2021, Austria has published a new draft law, which implements DSM Directive. The draft law is in consultation till October 13, 2021. In regards to Art. 17 of the DSM Directive, Austrian draft law is a mixture of the German approach, on which IPI already reported, and Europan Commission’s Guidelines.
On September 6, 2021, Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič, LL.M., LL.M. in the radio show Studio at 5 pm spoke on the topic of the implementation of the DSM Directive in the Slovenian legal order, emphasizing how necessary it is for the exceptions and limitations of copyright to be widely implemented. You are welcome to listen to the radio show!