Reproduction of Opel logo on imitation toy cars does not infringe trade mark rights

The European Court of Justice's ruling in the Opel v Autec toy cars case in January 2007 was a landmark in European trade mark law. The case is always referred to whenever the question of whether "trade mark use" is required to establish trade mark infringement arises.

More than three years later, the dispute that prompted that ruling has finally been concluded by the German Federal Supreme Court. Its judgment is that consumers only perceived the use of the mark on such model cars as a means of replicating the original in every detail and not as a badge of origin. Therefore, the model car manufacturer did not infringe.

The detailed analysis I have for you of this judgment comes direct from the IP experts in our Munich office.