Bang & Olufsen wins trade mark case in EU court
COPENHAGEN (Thomson Financial) - Danish home electronics maker Bang & Olufsen AS has won a case in the European Court of First Instance regarding the trade mark protection of its loudspeaker Beolab 8000.

The EU's trademark and designs registry (OHIM) previously ruled that the loudspeaker was not distinctive enough to constitute a trademark in itself, but the Court annulled the decision, adhering to Bang & Olufsen's arguments.

The loudspeaker, which is shaped like a high, pencil-like cone, is 'truly specific' and can thus be registered as a trade mark, the court said in its ruling earlier today.

RB Boersen news agency said, citing Bang & Olufsen's chief legal officer Kim Bo Hansen, that the decision is important as it will make it easier for the group to protect its designs against piracy.

Bang & Olufsen will now decide on whether to register other products as trade marks, Hansen said.

gustav.sandstrom@thomson.com gs/am

http://www.hemscott.com/news/latest-news/item.do?newsId=51178830601956 

 

kuyttendaele:

...

RB Boersen news agency said, citing Bang & Olufsen's chief legal officer Kim Bo Hansen, that the decision is important as it will make it easier for the group to protect its designs against piracy.

Bang & Olufsen will now decide on whether to register other products as trade marks, Hansen said....

I agree with Tom, this can only be good news.
Of course there will always be copies, let's hope that this is the first of many similar ca

Forgive me for being cynical - but hasn't that landmark judgement come a whole thirteen years after they were launched?

You are right, for the BL8000, the judgement comes some 13 years to late. But I think the main "advantage" of this judgement is not for BL8000, but for more recent or future products that look very different from the regular products. (like BL3 or BL5)

9 LEE:

Forgive me for being cynical - but hasn't that landmark judgement come a whole thirteen years after they were launched?

If anyone was going to make a direct copy, they would have done it years ago surely?  I'm missing the point though i'm sure, and i really wish B&O all the best in copyrighting their designs.  

Lee

But OHIM was only established in 1999. That would be the soonest B&O could apply for a trademark with that organization. 

There is a company I think in China currently making a copy of Beolab 8000.  Maybe that was the reason for this.

expoman:

There is a company I think in China currently making a copy of Beolab 8000.  Maybe that was the reason for this.

Is there any company in China that is not making copies of something?