Algeria – Defending Global Tech Giant’s Important House Mark

We assisted our client, a global tech giant, with launching and settling merits cancellation proceedings in Algeria. We prepared and filed extensive cancellation arguments and evidence, while first requesting the court to facilitate conciliation, as is standard in Algeria. We simultaneously explored potential settlement outside of the judicial process in an attempt to swiftly resolve the case.

Through extensive negotiation, we reached a settlement under which the registered proprietor voluntarily cancelled the mark at issue. To facilitate this outcome, we assisted the proprietor with filing a new application based on a carefully crafted specification acceptable to our client, managed the trade mark assignment and recordal, which was necessary before cancellation could take place, and safeguarded our client’s rights against future use or registrations by securing a binding unilateral undertaking in our client’s favour. We achieved a swift resolution and avoided what could have been a lengthy court proceeding lasting several months or even years.

Bulgaria – NIKKI BEACH Trade Mark Successfully Defended Before EUIPO

CWB Bulgaria represented a hospitality & entertainment firm, Penrod Management International LLC, in a dispute against an infringer who established a NIKKI BEACH lookalike club in Bulgaria. The infringer brought a non-use cancellation action against the client’s NIKKI BEACH EU trade mark, which we successfully defended before the EUIPO. Following two infringement actions, the courts issued a final injunction against the infringers, and we successfully warded off appeals before the Sofia Appellate Court and the Supreme Court of Cassation of Bulgaria.

CWB Bulgaria is also coordinating NIKKI BEACH opposition and infringement cases in Turkey, Montenegro and Azerbaijan.

Jordan – Appeal Against Refusal of Class 5 Word Mark

We represented a global leader in generic and biosimilar medicines following Jordan IPO’s refusal of the client’s trade mark application (word mark, class 5) on relative grounds due to similarity with an existing registration for oncology medicines.

Following an unsuccessful settlement attempt, we filed an appeal highlighting the differences between the marks and products, their distinct visual and phonetic structures, their different therapeutic uses (immunosuppressants vs. cancer treatments), and the fact that both products are handled exclusively by qualified healthcare professionals. We relied on Jordanian precedent, Supreme Court of Justice decision 327/2006, confirming that the likelihood of confusion for pharmaceutical trade marks must be assessed from the perspective of doctors and pharmacists. The appeal is currently pending.

The case is strategically important as the mark is a back-up brand for a key regional project. The case illustrates common challenges in pharmaceutical branding, including invented-name similarity and the treatment of distinct therapeutic indications within class 5. Our approach combines scientific product differentiation with established Jordanian case law to counter overly broad relative grounds refusals. The appeal strengthens our client’s position in Jordan and may serve as a helpful reference for future pharmaceutical marks facing similar objections across the MENA region.

Serbia - Defence Against a Non Use Cancellation Action

CWB Serbia successfully defended a global tech & media giant against a non use cancellation action filed in Serbia by a competitor, while also securing favourable outcomes for related international filings. The competitor sought cancellation of our client’s registered trade mark in Serbia (Classes 9, 38, 41, and 42) and simultaneously attempted to overcome provisional refusals of its own similar marks by requesting our client’s consent. The case involved strategic negotiation under short deadlines and a detailed coordination with the competitor’s local and our client’s global legal team.

CWB swiftly resolved the matter in June 2025 by persuading the opponent to withdraw its conflicting international registration in Serbia. CWB obtained the Letter of Consent from our client under Serbian formalities allowing the opponent’s other international registration to proceed. The successful outcome was achieved within days of the final deadline, showcasing CWB’s legal agility, deep local insight, and ability to coordinate with global teams under pressure.

South Africa – Trade Mark Dispute Between Two Household Goods Retailers

CWB South Africa was recently engaged in a trade mark dispute between two household goods retailers active in China and Korea. The defendant, having obtained knowledge of our client’s expansion plans, preemptively filed for our client’s trade mark in multiple jurisdictions, including South Africa. As our client had not used the mark in South Africa, the CWB representative based the opposition on bad faith—an inherently difficult argument in the absence of local reputation.

The opposition case proceeded from the Trade Mark Registry to the High Court and shortly after, the defendant’s shops in South Africa—operating under their own trade mark, not the plaintiff’s—began closing. Amid concerns over the defendant’s credibility and financial standing, an order for security for costs was granted in our client’s favour but not complied with by the defendant, leading to the removal of the defendant’s application from the register, which cleared the way for our client’s trade mark registration to proceed.

Learn more about this case here.

South Africa – Infringement of Registered Designs

In August 2025, CWB South Africa successfully represented a solar panel manufacturer Balster Jan Nienhuis before the Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa against Africo Solar, importer and wholesaler of solar products, who infringed the applicant’s three registered industrial designs for rooftop solar panel mounting brackets. Africo Solar admitted to distributing identical brackets but argued that this act did not automatically constitute infringement because the brackets had other potential uses outside the protected Class 13 (solar panel mounting systems), such as for shelving, geyser, or lighting fixture mounting.

The court held that design protection is determined by the article’s visual features and its predominant purpose, noting that multiple facts supported the inference that Africo Solar sold its brackets predominantly for solar panel mounting. The court ordered the respondent to cease infringing the applicant’s registered designs, hand over all infringing articles to the rights owner for destruction and pay the applicant’s legal costs on a punitive scale.

Learn more about this case here.

UAE – Landmark Opposition Against a Bad Faith Filing

CWB successfully represented one of the world’s largest automotive companies in a landmark opposition in the UAE against a bad faith filing covering (among other things) oils, lubricants, and greases in Class 4, where our client otherwise held no prior registrations in Class 4 in the UAE. By presenting a compelling evidentiary record and persuasive legal arguments, in an otherwise short timeline, we secured a final decision from the Opposition Committee upholding the opposition, recognising an overlap between Class 12 and Class 4 goods (not otherwise arguably clearly established in jurisprudence) and explicitly affirming the client’s trade mark’s well-known status, thereby extending its protection beyond registered classes and reinforcing the expansive scope of rights afforded to well-known marks under applicable UAE Law.

The decision is highly significant as it reinforces practical and forward-looking opposition assessments. By expressly recognising an overlap between Class 12 and Class 4 goods, the Committee moved beyond identical-class comparisons in oppositions, in practice, and embraced a substantive analysis aligned with the applicable laws. Equally impactful was the formal recognition of the client’s trade mark as well-known, establishing this status on record and suggesting (on our assessment) readiness to extend its protection to unregistered classes.