Red Bull v The Bull Dog: 'due cause' in trade mark infringement
April 24, 2014
Case C-65/12 Leidseplein Beheer BV and Hendrikus de Vries v Red Bull GmbH and Red Bull Nederland BV, Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), 6 February 2014.
The CJEU has provided valuable guidance on the interpretation of ‘due cause’ (under Article 5(2) of Directive 89/104 (now replaced by Directive 2008/95)) where a sign that is identical or similar to a registered trade mark with a reputation was already being used in good faith before the registered trade mark was applied for.