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To make the EU even more attractive for business, the European institutions have recently reached a provisional agreement on reforms to modernize the European trademark law system.

The questions arose in proceedings between First Note Perfumes and Coty Germany GmbH, a German producer and distributor of perfumes and cosmetic products.

The GC observed, however, that the sign at hand was to be immediately and directly perceived by the relevant public as relating to body-building.

On 24 February 2016, the EU General Court ("GC") gave judgment on the validity of the trade mark registration by The Coca-Cola Company ("Coca-Cola") for the shape of Coca-Cola's contour bottle.

On 9 October 2012, the General Court of the European Union (the "General Court") annulled a decision of the First Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (the "OHIM").

On 25 January 2012, the General Court of the European Union (the "General Court") upheld Pfizer’s opposition against the registration of the sign ‘VIAGUARA’ as a Community Trade Mark ("CTM") on the basis of the strong reputation of Pfizer’s own ‘VIAGRA’ trade mark.

On 15 November 2012, Advocate General Mengozzi of the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered his opinion in a case between the holder of a registered Community trade mark and the proprietor of an allegedly infringing later Community trade mark.

On 15 December 2011, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("ECJ") handed down a judgment in Case C-119/10 between Frisdranken Winters BV ("Winters") and Red Bull GmbH ("Red Bull") regarding the protection of the latter’s famous trade mark RED BULL.

The Court of Justice of the European Union handed down a preliminary ruling in joined cases C-217/13 and C-218/13 on the registration of a colour trade mark.

On 21 October 2013, the Brussels Court of Appeal ruled on a dispute between Alken Maes Brouwerijen N.V. and InBev Belgium N.V. concerning the alleged violation by InBev of an abstract Benelux colour trademark held by Maes.

Louboutin initiated cease-and-desist proceedings against Van Dalen in August 2013. In its defence, Van Dalen claimed that Louboutin's Trade Mark was invalid.

On 14 September 2015, the Court of Appeal of Mons permitted parallel imported pharmaceutical products to be repackaged and sold in package sizes that are predominant on the Belgian market.

On 16 November 2015, the Mons Court of Appeal (the "Court") handed down a judgment in a dispute between Verabel, a trademark holder, and Verandas Confort, which used the word 'Verabel' as a Google AdWord.

On 27 April 2016, the Belgian self-regulatory advertising authority Jury on Ethical Practices in Advertising ("JEP") published its Recommendation on Native Advertising.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled on whether political expression and parody can justify the unauthorized use of a reputed trademark, examining the balance between intellectual property rights and freedom of speech. The case arose from a Belgian political party's immigration campaign that adopted IKEA's branding without permission, prompting Inter IKEA to bring infringement proceedings.

The Court of Justice of the European Union ("ECJ") overruled the General Court and OHIM in its judgment of 24 May 2012.

The ECJ handed down an interesting judgment interpreting the notion of infringement of copyright and trade mark law in the context of Regulation 1383/2003.