Lego loses trademark challenge at top EU court
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Privately owned Danish toymaker Lego has lost a court battle to have its snap-together plastic bricks registered as an exclusive trademark in the European Union.
Lego had argued that studs on top of the bricks made them highly distinctive and, thus, eligible for trademark rights. The Luxembourg-based European Union Court of Justice (ECJ) upheld a 2008 ruling by the General Court, which dismissed Lego's challenge to the decision by trademark agency OHIM.
"Undertakings may not use trademark law in order to perpetuate, indefinitely, exclusive rights relating to technical solutions," it said.
OHIM had repealed an earlier decision to grant trademark rights for Lego bricks after objections from Canadian toymaker Mega Brands Inc.
Lego, whose name originates from the Danish words for "play well", is Europe's biggest toy manufacturer and competes with Mattel and Hasbro.
Peter Kjaer, the head of Lego's intellectual property section, said. "It is naturally a matter of concern to us that use of the brick by others can dilute the trademark. But the worst aspect is that consumers will be misled."
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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.