LEVIS JEANS POCKET TRADEMARK ECJ CASE ITALY
January 1st, 2006
BY KEITH NUTHALL
LEVIS may have won a partial victory at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over a bid to protect as a trademark 'gull' shape stitching on its rear jeans pockets. ECJ advocate general Dámaso Ruiz-Jarabo Colome has advised that national judges should allow such protection if they find consumers associated a clothing design with a particular brand. Then, only if a company formally ceased to use this design as a trademark could a competitor start selling and manufacturing similar products. The decision comes in a long-running dispute with Italian ...
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