Osborne Clarke

Firm overview:

UK-origin Osborne Clarke is an international firm spanning offices in Europe, Asia and the United States. Osborne Clarke Rechtsanwälte Steuerberater Partnerschaft mbB has offices in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg and Munich. The firm’s work encompasses litigation at all levels of courts, including infringement litigation before the civil courts and invalidity cases before the German Patent and Trademark Office, the European Union Intellectual Property Office, the German Federal Patent Court, and the European Courts. The firm also advises clients on intellectual property-related issues, including portfolio concepts and management, distribution systems, licensing and franchising systems, branding and advertising campaigns, the launch of new products, joint ventures and IP-related transactions.

Team overview:

Osborne Clark’s German team has 5 partners, one senior associate and six associates working on trademarks matters. The team is a regular feature on prosecution and litigation matters for domestic and international clients.

Key matters:

• Osborne Clark’s Hamburg office represented UK online fashion brand Asos Holdings in a Fourth Board of Appeal against the decision of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to refuse the European Union trademark TOPSHOP.
• The Fourth Board of Appeal decided the sign TOPSHOP was correctly refused protection for the refused goods and services on the basis of the absolute ground for refusal and the appeal was dismissed. The case was remitted to the examiner for further prosecution of the subsidiary claim of acquired distinctiveness pursuant to Article 7(3) EUTMR.
• Osborne Clarke is advising Tik Tok on trademarks clearance searches for a new digital platform in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Clients:

ABIDAYS Travel & Event, Akron Brass, CHEFS CULINAR, elexon, Fitness First, and Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten, High-Class Comfort, infas, Inside Then Out, LIVE FAST DIE YOUNG Clothing, Magnetec, National Hockey League (NHL), NFL Properties Europe, Outermedia, Scanbot SDK, Spoke Sciences, Inc, social sweethearts, Tik Tok