Dr. Tobias Endrich-Laimböck,
MJur (Oxford)

Books and Monographs

Technisch-funktionelle Marken nach PVÜ und TRIPS – Ist ein kategorischer Schutzausschluss zulässig? (Geistiges Eigentum und Wettbewerbsrecht (GEuWR), 183), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2023, XVIII + 329 pp.

Contributions to Collected Editions, Commentaries, Handbooks and Encyclopaedias

Gegen ein induktiv-empirisches Verständnis der Sittenwidrigkeit im Markenrecht, in: Sven Hetmank, Constantin Rechenberg (eds.), Kommunikation, Kreation und Innovation - Recht im Umbruch?, Nomos, Baden-Baden 2019, 211 - 220.

• https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/9783748901099-211.pdf
• Event: 5. Tagung GRUR Junge Wissenschaft, Leipzig, 2019-06-21

Journal Articles

Substantive Law Aspects of the 'Design Package', GRUR Int 72, 6 (2023), 557 - 565 (together with Annette Kur, Marc Huckschlag). DOI

• On 28 November 2022, the EU Commission published proposals for amendment of the Community Design Regulation (CDR) and for the recast of the Design Directive (DDir). Both proposals (in the following: PEUDR, PDDir) were preceded by reports and comprehensive consultations with interested circles. The aim of both proposals is to streamline and simplify the proceedings, enhance harmonisation, and improve the functioning of design legislation inter alia regarding novel forms of designs and reproduction technologies, providing a more robust catalogue of limitations, liberalisation of the spare parts market, and clarification of the relationship with copyright. The present article highlights the issues which are considered to be particularly important and deserving of further comments and clarifications.

Little Guidance for the Application of Copyright Law to Designs in Cofemel, GRUR Int 69, 3 (2020), 264 - 269. DOI

• Cofemel does not provide sector-specific guidance for the application of the originality criterion to works of applied art or industrial designs.

Are morality bars 'Friends U Can't Trust'? Iancu v. Brunetti in global context, GRUR Int 68, 11 (2019), 1028 - 1035.

Legal Standing of Trade Mark Licensees in the Czech Republic after Hettich v. NÁBYTKÁR, GRUR Int 68, 2 (2019), 151 - 155.

Pinning down functionality in European design law – A comment on the CJEU’s DOCERAM judgement (EUGH Aktenzeichen C-395/16), GRUR Int 67, 8/9 (2018), 766 - 775.

• Also published in: Jourmal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, 14(2), 2019, 156 - 167

Die Entscheidung des EuGH in der Rs. EUGH Aktenzeichen C-433/16 – BMW/Acacia im Kontext der geschmacksmusterrechtlichen Torpedoklage, GRUR Int 66, 10 (2017), 854 - 859.

• Der EuGH hat mit seiner Entscheidung in der Rs. C-433/16 – BMW/Acacia die Zuständigkeitsregeln der GGV und deren Spezialität zur EuGVVO (2001) im Hinblick auf die negative Feststellungsklage gemäß Art. 81 Buchst. b) GGV in ihrer Eindeutigkeit bestätigt. Der Beitrag stellt die wesentlichen Feststellungen dieses Urteils dar und beschreibt deren Bedeutung im Hinblick auf die geschmacksmusterrechtliche Torpedo-Problematik.

Case notes

Abuse of Dominant Position in a Market by Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights - Case Note to Supreme Court (Nejvyšší soud České republiky), Judgment of 29 May 2019 – 23 Cdo 5955/2017, GRUR Int 69, 4 (2020), 413 - 414.

• https://doi.org/10.1093/grurint/ikaa015

Anmerkung zu EuGH: Markenrecht: Filmtitel "Fack Ju Göhte" verstößt nicht gegen die guten Sitten, Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht 31, 13 (2020), 579 - 580 (together with Svenja Schenk).

Then Tell Me What You Think About Morality: A Freedom of Expression Perspective on the CJEU’s Decision in FACK JU GÖHTE (C-240/18 P), IIC 51, 4 (2020), 529 - 542 (together with Svenja Schenk).

• This case note on the CJEU’s decision in Fack Ju Göhte focuses on morality bars and freedom of expression in EU trade mark law. Based on the presumption that a refusal to register a trade mark for being contrary to accepted principles of morality interferes with freedom of expression, an empirical concept of morality appears incompatible with freedom of expression. However, the test for morality developed by the CJEU seems to employ such an empirical concept at least partially. In addition, the test seems to lack legal certainty. In light of freedom of expression, both represent a potential shortcoming of the decision.
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40319-020-00936-9

Opinions

Position Statement of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition of 23 January 2023 on the 'Design Package' (Amendment of the Design Regulation and Recast of the Design Directive), 2023, 15 pp. (together with Annette Kur, Marc Huckschlag).

• This position statement of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition comments on the EU Commission’s proposals for an amendment of the Community Design Regulation and for a recast of the Design Directive. It highlights issues of particular importance, as, inter alia, the revised approach to the subject matter of protection, the acquisition of unregistered designs, as well as the extended list of limitations and the relation with copyright. The Institute welcomes the aim of the proposals, i.e. to streamline and simplify proceedings, to enhance harmonization and improve the functioning of design legislation. While it endorses most of the proposed changes, comments are made particularly where further adjustment and clarification is needed.
• MPI_Position Statement on the Design Package_01-25.pdf
• Also published as: Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper No. 23-05

Further Publications, Press Articles, Interviews

Copyright/Design-Cumulation under the EU 'Design Package', Kluwer Copyright Blog 2023 (together with Marc Huckschlag).

• https://copyrightblog.kluweriplaw.com/2023/04/12/copyright-design-cumulation-under-the-eu-design-package/