European Patent Office - new schedule of fees applicable starting 1st April 2008

In a decision in December 2007, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation adopted an amended version of the schedule of fees to be paid to the Office for the filing, examination, search, renewal etc. of European patents.
The new schedule of fees will enter into force on 1st April 2008. The new amounts of the fees shall be binding for payments made on or after that date.
European patents can be granted for the 34 contracting states (as at January 2008) to the European Patent Convention (EPC) and, at the applicant's request, can be extended to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Serbia.
A European patent application consists of a request for the grant of a European patent a description of the invention, one or more claims, any drawings referred to in the description or claims, and an abstract.
The request for grant of a European patent must be filed on the form prescribed by the European Patent Office.
The minimum requirements to establish a filing date of a European patent application are: an indication that a European patent is sought, information identifying the applicant or allowing the applicant to be contacted, and a description of the invention or a reference to a previously filed application. The applicant will then need to complete the application documents as listed above.

Google Inc. and its G.mail trade mark stopped by Germany

Google Inc., owner of the world's most-used internet search engine, has failed in its bid to get European Union-wide trade mark protection for the word Gmail, the name of its web-based email service. In a decision given on 26 February, this freshly-posted OHIM Board of Appeal decision considered the word to be confusingly similar to an existing German trade mark owned by businessman Daniel Giersch and which consists of a slogan containing the word G-mail ("G-mail ... ... und die Post geht richtig ab" -- meaning "G-mail ... an the service really takes off"). According to the Board of Appeal, the relevant German consumers would be confused into believing that the services of Giersch and Google shared a common commercial origin.Giersch received his German trade mark in 2000 and has been fighting Google's application in Europe since 2004. He operates a mail business that lets users send electronic files and messages through a central email system, the controversial "G" standing for his last name.

The Supreme Court in Italy statues on Lego toys

The Supreme Court in Italy has rendered its final decision in the Lego case. According to the Court, it is not unfair competition to make and sell compatible bricks so far as they can be distinguished by consumers from Lego's (i.e. so long as there is no risk of confusion). This decision is in high contrast with an earlier Lego dispute in 1998, where the court followed the German Supreme Court ruling in Kleinbaustein BGH, II.

German Federal Patent Court rules on the trade mark protection on the red colour

German Federal Patent Court (Bundespatentgericht) has published the following brief guidelines regarding trade mark protection on the red colour:
"If an abstract colour is used in connection with goods over a longer period of time in such a way that it creates an interconnection between the colour and goods on the one hand and between the colour and the manufacturer of the goods on the other hand, one can assume, that the targeted consumers will have become accustomed to recognising the colour not merely as the colour of the goods but as a sign that indicates trade origin".