Chinese electronics company Xiaomi managed to secure a partial win before the EU General Court yesterday, March 12, in a case involving a figurative trademark. The General Court annulled part of a European Union Intellectual Property Office's (EUIPO) appeal board's decision in a dispute involving Xiaomi and Spanish company Dudingen Develops. Dudingen Develops applied to register a figurative sign as an EU trademark in November 2014, covering class 9 (for goods including electrical cables and power adaptors) and class 18 (rucksacks). Xiaomi appealed against the decision, arguing that the General Court should annul the part of the appeal board's decision where it found that there was no likelihood of confusion for the remaining goods in class 9 and 18. Xiaomi's representatives Thomas Raab and Christian Tenkhoff, a partner and senior associate based in Taylor Wessing's Munich office, said: "It's good news that the court annulled the decision of the Board of Appeal. Clearly, the court did not agree with the board's very restrictive approach to comparing the products at issue."

Source: www.worldipreview.com