Long-awaited Sky vs Skykick decision
Posted:
The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) handed down its long-awaited decision in the case of Sky v Skykick on 29 January 2020.
This decision had the potential to question the validity of many UK and EU trade mark registrations, and could have opened the floodgates for many invalidation actions being filed. However, that has not been the case.
The court ruled that a trade mark registration cannot be cancelled on the ground that specified goods and/or services lack clarity or precision. This – fairly unusually – went against the opinion of the Advocate General.
The court also ruled that a trade mark registration can be partially or fully invalidated for the goods and/or services for which there was no genuine intention to use the trade mark at the time the application for registration was filed, on the basis of bad faith. However, the mere fact that the applicant was not using its trade mark for economic gain in respect of those goods and/or services at the time the application was filed will not necessarily result in the registration being invalidated, whether in part or full.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please, therefore, get in touch with your usual Forresters contact if you have any questions or concerns regarding your trade mark registrations following this decision.
