The Opposition Division has partially upheld an opposition filed by Jaguar Land Rover against an EUTM application filed by the luxury fashion designer Philipp Plein. This opposition was based on Jaguar Land Rover's earlier EUTM registrations covering several variations of its logo. This is the second time that Philipp Plein has sought to ride off the coattails of a luxury car brand, coming off the back of Ferrari’s successful case against him for infringement of their IP in advertisements, which they claimed unlawfully appropriated their goodwill. 

This is a useful transfer of image case, demonstrating the reach of luxury brands who can support their reputation through persuasive evidence from an early stage. The judgment includes an interesting discussion of reputation, similarity, link, risk of injury, likelihood of confusion and unregistered trade marks. 

Amelia Sainsbury has shared her thoughts on the case with the Wolters Kluwer Trade Mark blog. You can read the full article here.