More flexibility for EU trade mark owners in choice of jurisdiction

Abstract

Until now, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court of Justice) concerning the determination of the competent jurisdiction in proceedings for infringement of a national trade mark has consistently rejected a choice of court based on the linking factor of the target location of the online message that constituted the offer to sell the goods bearing the protected trade mark. The AMS Neve and Others judgment holds that the territory in which the right to an EU trade mark has been infringed is the territory of the Member State in which the addressees either of advertisements posted on the internet or of targeted offers to sell are present, and that the right holder may bring an action for infringement before a court based in the territory of the country of such targeting. This judgment not only constitutes a breakthrough in the case law of the Court of Justice, but also represents an attempt to approximate the rules for determining the jurisdiction applicable to both national and EU trade marks.