Tag Archives: EU

The ongoing pandemic has not stopped progress in the world of privacy protection. This month there have been huge developments that may have profound implications for commerce between United States and the European Union (EU). We have written extensively about the European “General Data Protection Regulation” or the GDPR. This is a set of privacy regulations that govern […]

This week the European Parliament approved a controversial copyright law, the “Copyright Directive” (“Directive”), that may have serious implications for both providers and consumers of online content in Europe. While this may not be relevant to most of our readership, it may be an important testing ground for changes in US copyright law. For example, […]

McDonald’s Trademark BIG MAC Trademarks may reside in families.  A family of marks is a group of trademarks that have a recognizable common characteristic.  For example, you may recall that Eastman Kodak owned trademarks for KODACOLOR, KODAMATIC, and KODACHROME, the term “Koda” being the common element of all three trademarks.  A family of marks is […]

In 2013, we wrote about the branding wars between candy bar makers.  These disputes are good measure of the boundaries between 3-D trademarks that have acquired distinctiveness (registrable) and those that are functional (not registrable). In 2006, Nestlé was granted trademark rights in the “distinctive” shape of its KitKat bar in various European countries.  But […]

We recently wrote about the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and how it might affect your business operations.  You may recall that the main focus of the GDPR is the protection of personal data and digital privacy. If you offer products and services to EU citizens or collect, use, or share personal information […]