💬 "Such strategic action [...] gives a flavor of what functional (i.e., active) decentralized enforcement of EU data protection can look like."
techcrunch.com/2022/03/04/noyb…

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Seconda puntata di Radiosa. Un podcast di novità musicali di qualità. Senza barriere o generi. Godetevela..

Toro y Moi, Yard Act, Superchunk, Bob Mould , Ibibio Sound Machine e altro.

iyezine.com/radiosa-vol-2

Il Data Act: il disegno del nuovo quadro giuridico UE

“Vogliamo dare ai consumatori e alle aziende un controllo ancora maggiore su cosa si può fare con i loro dati, chiarendo chi può accedere ai dati e a quali condizioni”, ha affermato Margrethe Vestager, vicepresidente esecutivo della Commissione responsabile del portafoglio digitale nel commentare il Data Act, la nuova proposta UE, la seconda iniziativa regolamentare europea dopo il Data Governance Act (legge sulla gestione dei dati approvata a novembre): mentre quest’ultimo crea procedure e strutture per facilitare la condivisione dei dati da parte di aziende, privati e settore pubblico, il Data Act chiarisce chi può creare valore dai dati e a quali condizioni.

iapp.org/news/a/data-act-the-e…

Gli organismi IT globali esprimono preoccupazione per la legge sulla protezione dei dati

L’Economic Times riporta che una coalizione di gruppi commerciali internazionali ha inviato una lettera al ministro indiano dell’elettronica e della tecnologia dell’informazione Ashwini Vaishnaw in merito alle raccomandazioni formulate da una commissione parlamentare mista per modificare il progetto di legge sulla protezione dei dati. “Le nostre aziende fanno affidamento su questi dati per raggiungere i consumatori, promuovere l’efficienza aziendale e continuare a innovare”, hanno scritto i gruppi, sottolineando che le modifiche raccomandate dal JPC porterebbero “potenti disincentivi per l’ecosistema dell’innovazione indiano”. I gruppi hanno anche chiesto ulteriori consultazioni sul disegno di legge prima che venga presentato in Parlamento.

economictimes.indiatimes.com/t…

Il Senato degli Stati Uniti approva il disegno di legge omnibus sulla sicurezza informatica

Il Senato degli Stati Uniti ha approvato il Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act, un pacchetto di progetti di legge presentato dal senatore Gary Peters, D-Mich., per migliorare la sicurezza informatica degli Stati Uniti. La legislazione richiederebbe alle aziende coinvolte in infrastrutture critiche, tra cui energia e assistenza sanitaria, di segnalare attacchi informatici e pagamenti di ransomware. È incluso anche un obbligo di segnalazione delle violazioni di 72 ore. Il disegno di legge è passato alla Camera degli Stati Uniti per ulteriori considerazioni.

congress.gov/bill/117th-congre…

guidoscorza.it/privacy-daily-4…

NFTs are the trend of the moment and the early indicator of the IP legal implications that virtual reality could entail in the near future. It is not yet clear to what extent businesses will take advantage of the e-commerce opportunities offered by NFTs, but expectations are high, while grey areas are thick. The recent case involving Hermés and the artist Mason Rothschild sheds a light on the trademark law implications in the virtual world.

In the words of Marty Resnick, research vice president at Gartner, “vendors are already building ways for users to replicate their lives in digital worlds”, i.e. what it is now referred to as the Metaverse). Metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical and digital reality. It is persistent, providing enhanced immersive experiences, as well as device independent and accessible through any type of device[1]. In this context, trading virtual commodities seems very concrete rather than virtual; some of these commodities are even authenticated by means of NFTs (“Non Fungible Tokens”). These are unique digital certificates, registered in blockchains, that are used to record ownership of a digital commodity such as an artwork or a collectible[2]. NFTs are increasingly used by famous brands online to certify the authenticity and uniqueness of their products carrying well-known trademarks. Despite their authenticity, these secure and certified virtual items still lack regulation and have raised concerns in numerous areas of intellectual property, including trademark law[3].

One of the main issues arising from the relationship between legitimate trademark owners and NFT traders is the damage suffered for “dilution”. This action consists of blurring the well-known trademark’s distinctive character through another sign used by a third party for his products. The latter adopts the copycat sign on goods and services which are similar or dissimilar to the ones bearing the original trademark. As a consequence, the presence of two confusingly similar or identical signs on the market blurs the identity of the well-known trademark upon the public’s mind[4], reducing goodwill. As far as the metaverse is concerned, dilution is a direct consequence of the lack of registration of the relevant trademark classes before relevant authorities (for example, class 9 of the Nice Classification: digital media).

In this regard, at the beginning of 2022, Hermès filed an anti-dilution lawsuit against Mason Rothschild, the artist behind the collection “100 MetaBirkins”[5]. MetaBirkins are NFTs that depict furry renderings of the renowned Birkin bag. They are traded on the NFT platform “OpenSea”[6]. In the complaint that it filed before the New York Federal Court, Hermès claims that Mason Rothschild is “a digital speculator who is seeking to get rich quick by appropriating the brand MetaBirkins for use in creating, marketing, selling, and facilitating the exchange of digital assets known as non- fungible tokens” which simply “rip off Hermès’ famous BIRKIN trademark by adding the generic prefix ‘meta”[7].

Indeed, MetaBirkins are commercialized using a recurring series of identifiers bearing the reputable trademark belonging to Hermés. For this reason, the claimant places dilution side by side to unfair competition. Elements supporting this interpretation are, for instance, the URL containing the term “Birkin”, the bag design of the NFT being unequivocally the registered Birkin bag depiction and, clearly, the name itself of the digital commodity and its exorbitant price. As a consequence, it seems that the exploitation of the Birkin sign allows Mr. Rothschild to cash in on the reputation he has done nothing to establish[8]. Hermès is on this same page, claiming that the buyer might be misled by the use of the term Birkin by believing that the expensive NFT is associated with its products. According to Hermès, Mason Rothschild’s conduct distorts the origin of the virtual good; therefore, “[b]y falsely suggesting a connection with or sponsorship by Hermès, Mason Rothschild is likely to cause public confusion constituting unfair competition”.[9]

As a further step, it is worth mentioning the IP institution called “secondary meaning”, claimed by Hermès in favor of his sign. According to U.S. Law[10], to establish secondary meaning, it must be shown that the primary significance of the term in the minds of the consuming public is not the product but the producer[11]. Secondary enhances the distinctive character of the trademark acquired through its commercial use. In this regard, according to plaintiff, “the Birkin trademark has come to have a secondary meaning indicative of origin, relationship, sponsorship and/or association with Hermès and its distinctive reputation for high quality”. The public is likely to consider Mason Rithschild’s use of the MetaBirkins sign as authorized, licensed or associated to Hermés, and purchase the NFTs in this erroneous belief[12].

According to Hermès, its trademark has acquired a certain degree of secondary meaning and distinctiveness. Speaking of which, the prefix “meta” might not have the degree of distinctiveness which is necessary to distance the association of the expensive Rothschild’s NFT from the status symbol Birkin-ish design, since it is considered as being too generic[13].

The fact remains that Hermès has not registered “Birkin” for digital goods class. This lack of action originates a grey area leading to numerous questions, such as: to what extent is the metaverse approachable to real world case scenarios? Many other brands, such as Nike, have used NFTs as a digital certificate of authenticity[14] and this solid IP trouble for virtual items might be only at its early stage.

Edoardo Di Maggio

[1] gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-…

[2] collinsdictionary.com/us/dicti…

[3] blogs.orrick.com/blockchain/th…

[4] Intel [2008] E.C.R. I-08823

[5] jdsupra.com/legalnews/outcome-…

[6] Following a cease and desist letter lodged by Hermès to OpenSea, the NFT trading platform eliminated MetaBirkins fromtheir websites. Nevertheless, Mason Rthschild moved articles on other NFT trading platforms, such as “Rarible”, rarible.com.

[7] United States District Court Southern District Of New York, HERMÈS INTERNATIONAL and HERMÈS OF PARIS, INC., against Mason Rothschild, filed 01/14/22.

[8] Hazel Carty, “Dilution and passing-off: Cause of concern”,(1996) 112 (October) LQR 632-66.

[9] Id. fn. 7.

[10] law.cornell.edu/wex/lanham_act

[11] Ralston Purina Co. v. Thomas J. Lipton, Inc., 341 F. Supp. 129, 133, 173 USPQ 820, 823 (S.D.N.Y. 1972) .

[12] Id. fn. 7.

[13] tmep.uspto.gov/RDMS/TMEP/curre…

[14]

L'articolo Metaverse and trademark dilution: Hermès International and Hermès of Paris, Inc., against Mason Rothschild proviene da E-Lex.

#privacy #gdpr #digitalrights #dsgvo #TeamDatenschutz #dataprotection #datenschutz #darkpatterns

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🌊 This week, noyb launched the second wave of its project against "Dark Patterns" and unlawful cookie banners. The first wave of complaints already brought some improvements - take a look! 👀 noyb.eu/en/more-cookie-banners…

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Altri banner di biscotti per andare: Seconda ondata di reclami in corso noyb ha lanciato il secondo round della sua azione contro i banner ingannevoli dei cookie. La prima ondata ha già portato miglioramenti visibili nel design dei banner.

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