IP Bulletin - November 2011

KEY CASES AND DEVELOPMENTS

• Interflora, Inc & Interflora British Unit v Marks and Spencer Plc & Flowers Direct Online Limited, ECJ–Google Adwords. The European Court of Justice has given its judgment on questions referred by the High Court concerning infringement by the unauthorised use of trade marks as advertising keywords, ie AdWords, on Google's search engine.
• Budejovický Budvar, národní podnik v Anheuser-Busch, Inc., ECJ – BUDWEISER. The European Court of Justice has given its judgment on questions referred by the Court of Appeal relating to the nature of acquiescence in the use of a later trade mark, the time periods relating to such acquiescence, and the role of honest concurrent use in situations involving acquiescence. In effect, the court recommends that the appeal in this case be upheld.