Federal Supreme Court establishes more stringent requirements for protection against imitation
23.01.2024
The decision of the Federal Supreme Court contains new and fundamental guidelines for protection against unfair imitation:
– The German law on unfair imitation does not provide for protection of specific concepts for product designations. The subject matter of protection is the specific design of a product, not the idea behind it.
– The fact that differing product and manufacturer information on products of daily use can rule out a deception about the commercial origin is also applicable in cases in which the design of the packaging clearly stands out from the market environment.
– Product names can have the same effect of indicating origin as clearly recognizable manufacturer names.
– Unfair imitation is not ruled out by the products at issue being different. However, such a difference leads to special requirements for the unfairness criterion, due to the fact that certain categories of indirect deception of origin (deception about a secondary trademark (Zweitmarkenirrtum)) are not applicable to non-identical products.
Our client LieBee GmbH was represented in the proceedings by our Berlin partners Dr. Andreas Lubberger and Eva Maierski. Axel Rinkler represented our client before the Federal Supreme Court.
Here you can find the JUVE press release.