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Via Katfriends Elena Martini and Luigi Manna ( Martini Manna Law Firm ) comes the news that recently the Venice Court of First Instance - in the context of interim proceedings - acknowledged copyright protection in the design (including of its interiors) of a yacht ( RG 2236/2018 ). Background An architect, Tiberio Cerato, was commissioned to design the layout, interiors and furnishings of a yacht named Checkmate. A company, Wally, from which the yacht purchaser had only acquired the structural parts, however, published on its own website photographs of the yacht as if it was its own work. It also uploaded a video of the yacht  on both YouTube and Vimeo  in which it represented itself as the one responsible for the styling and interior design, without even mentioning the architect's name and indicating, instead, itself and another person as responsible for them. Cerato requested the Venice Court of First Instance to issue an interim order that would prohibit the company from ...

A few days ago, on Twitter US President Donald Trump posted an image of himself accompanied by the caption 'Sanctions Are Coming'. One would not understand what the potential IP issues would be with this tweet if they were not also familiar with the successful HBO TV series Game of Thrones and the phrase (repeated so much  ad nauseam that it has become an actual trade mark) 'Winter is Coming'.  The phrase is in fact registered as a word mark - owned by HBO - both in the US and in the EU for certain goods and services in Classes 25, 35 and 41 of the Nice Classification. The other issue is that the image published by Trump is in the style of Game of Thrones imagery. There is the same gravitas and also the font used for the phrase 'Sanctions Are Coming' is very similar to the one used for Game of Thrones images. Apparently HBO was not thrilled to see the tweet, and responded through the same medium (Twitter), asking: How do you say trademark misuse in Dothraki...

Big Red Can copyright vest in mascots and characters? This, in a nutshell, is the question that the Italian Supreme Court had to address in Ralph v Mediaset and Others , decision 14635/2018 [Katpat to Valentina Borgese for the heads up and the text of the decision] .  The Italian court answered in the affirmative, and provided some helpful guidance on copyright subsistence, derivative works, and infringement. What happened? In 1979 Ralph Carey created what would become the mascot of the Western Kentucky University (WKU) basketball team, a red character named Big Red. In 2009 he brought proceedings before the Milan Court of First Instance against broadcasters RTI and Mediaset and the creator of well-known TV programme Striscia La Notizia , claiming that the likeness of mascot/TV character Gabibbo (‘operating’ since 1990) would infringe copyright in Big Red. The Milan court sided with Carey: in 2012 it held that Gabibbo infringed copyright in Big Red. It also awarded damages for EU...

Readers might recall last month’s post concerning the US Copyright Office Review Board’s refusal to register UEFA’s Starball logo. This work was denied registration because it was not sufficiently original to sustain a claim for copyright]. On similar grounds, the Review Board has now delivered yet another blow – this time against Vodafone. Background Vodafone applied for registration of the Speechmark logo as a copyrighted work with the US Copyright Office back in 2016. The work is a two-dimensional artwork consisting of a red quotation mark with light shading, placed within a circle in various shades of grey and white. The quotation mark is placed in the centre within a red square: The Speechmark logo was initially denied registration in 2017. The Office found that the work did not contain a sufficient amount of original and creative graphic or artistic authorship to support a copyright registration. Furthermore, the circle and the apostrophe (the Office took the view that ...

Although the World Cup is over, this Kat can’t keep his mind off thinking about MORE football … or soccer (as Americans call it). In 2016, the Union des Associations Européennes de Footbal (UEFA) filed an application with the US Copyright Office to have the famous Starball logo registered as a copyright work of two-dimensional visual art. The Starball logo is composed of a round ball, made up of black stars, with white polygons in the negative space between the stars. The shapes are arranged into a circular space, with the outer stars curved to follow the circumference (see below). The US Copyright Office rejected the application. UEFA thus appealed the decision to the US Copyright Office Review Board (CORB), which however confirmed the prior assessment in a decision issued earlier this summer. UEFA set forward a number of claims in its Second Request for Reconsideration for Refusal to Register. First, it claimed that the work was sufficiently creative (original) due to the logo’s co...

Ed Sheeran is considered by many in the UK as something of a national treasure, and by others around the world an international star. He’s a singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer and actor, who has sold more than 26 million albums and 100 million singles worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. Sheeran as won 100 music awards , was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2017 for services to music and charity, and earlier this year, recognised by Forbes as the 9th top earning celebrity in the "Celebrity 100 List of The World's Highest-Paid Entertainers”. Ed, obviously a big [IP] cat fan Image - Ed Sheeran YouTube Channel His latest album ÷ was named the best-selling album worldwide of 2017 after securing 10 out of the top 10 UK Singles Chart, breaking the record for the most top 10 UK singles from one album. One of the tracks on this album was “ Shape of you ” which reached number-one on the singles charts in 34 co...