Birgit Clark's publications

Court delivers yes on yellow (ITMA Review, December 2014/January 2015, pp. 26 – 27)

Three colours red? CJEU rules on contourless colour trade marks (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, December 2014, pp. 958-961)

Faster, safer and more attractive? OHIM introduces “Fast Track” Application System, in: LL&P, December 2014, p. 6)

Gold bear wars reloaded (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, October 2014, pp. 795-796)

Fleurop: when keyword advertising may exceptionally be a trade mark infringement after all (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice/ GRUR International, August 2014, pp. 693 – 695)

@WIPO—#Twitter account review (with Daniel Joy, Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, July 2014, pp. 615-616)

Between a rock and a hard place? Bundesgerichtshof decides Hard Rock Café trade mark dispute (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, July 2014, pp. 544-546)

Impossible (im)position? General Court refuses registration of teddy maker Steiff's position mark (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, July 2014, pp. 542-543)

EuGH: Verkehrsdurchsetzung einer konturlosen Farbmarke (GRURPrax, July 2014, 14/2014)

Keeping it clean: invalidity of a registered Community design based on likelihood of confusion with earlier 3D Community trade mark (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, February 2014, pp. 106 - 108)

A polarizing tale: General Court decides in Polar Bear KNUT trade mark dispute (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, January 2014, pp. 13 -14)

Rintisch revisited: Bundesgerichtshof decides PROTI II (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, November 2013, pp. 815 - 817)

‘Freckles on her nose, diddle diddle dee’: copyright protection of a literary figure (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, November 2013, pp. 817-819)

Baby™ — a not quite serious look at motherhood and brands (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, October 2013, p. 8 Guest Editorial)

High Court of England and Wales: AdWords – Interflora, die Zweite (GRURPrax, August 2013, p. 359)

Bundesgerichtshof decides in Zappa trade mark dispute (Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property, July 2013, pp 267 - 272)

MOST(ly) Pralines—Bundesgerichtshof further clarifies its guidance on keyword advertising (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, July 2013, pp. 498 - 499)

Gold Bear wars (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, July 2013, pp. 499-501)

A trade mark practitioner's little helper  (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, December 2012, pp. 900-901)

Google image search still does not infringe copyright, reaffirms Bundesgerichtshof (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, November 2012, pp. 788-789)

Off piste? ECJ decides Austrian Supreme Court's ‘Adwords’jurisdiction question in Wintersteiger (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, October 2012, pp.701-703)

Defying convention (with Rachel Wilkinson-Duffy) (Intellectual Property Magazine, July/August 2012, pp.77-78)

General Court refuses ‘racist’ PAKI trade mark  (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, June 2012, pp. 392-394)

England and Wales Patents County Court: Bloße Ähnlichkeit der Bildgestaltung genügt für Bildverletzung (GRURPrax, February 2012, 4/2012)

Going bananas? Bundesgerichtshof decides Bananabay II (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, February 2012, pp. 84-86)

Send me no flowers? CJEU decides in INTERFLORA AdWords case (LL&P, December 2011, pp. 5-6)

Odysseus between Scylla and Charybdis? The ECJ rules in L'Oréal v eBay (with Maximilian Schubert) (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, December 2011, pages 880-888)

More AdWords and the ‘Google/shop assistant’ analogy (with Maximilian Schubert) (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, September 2011, pp. 602-604)

No fairy tale ending for Neuschwanstein trade mark (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, August 2011, pp. 517 - 520)

High Court of England and Wales (Chancery Division): „Knebelverfügungen“ zum Schutz des Privatlebens von Prominenten (GRURPrax, June 2011, p. 242)

The chocolate menagerie: the General Court decides on bunny, reindeer and mouse shapes (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, June 2011, pp. 361-364)

‘Wintersteiger'—Austrian Supreme Court refers jurisdiction question in AdWord cases to the ECJ (with Maximilian Schubert) (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, May 2011, pp. 288-290)

Stepping on toes: General Court refuses registration of Hallux mark (ITMA Review, April 2011, pp. 29 - 31)

Bundesgerichtshof decides in Hartplatzhelden.de case (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, April 2011, pp. 221-222)

AdWords and Resellers: ECJ decides in Portakabin case (LL&P, December 2010, pp. 9 -10)

diegesellschafter.de - case comment (ITMA Review, December 2010, pp. 16 - 18)

Case comment Intellectual Property: "Vorsprung durch Technik" (with Jeremy Phillips) (The Journal of British Business Law, Issue 4 2010, pp. 371-373)

Bananabay or Eis.de — the ‘overlooked' German AdWord referral (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, September 2010, pp. 620-622)

Google Image Search does not infringe copyright, says Bundesgerichtshof (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, August 2010, pp. 553-555)

AdWords here, there and everywhere: The ECJ decides in French, Austrian and German AdWord referrals (LL&P, July 2010, pp. 2-3 )

ECJ decides in French Google AdWord referrals: more seek than find? (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, July 2010, pp. 477-480)

Airdsl - BGH clarifies protection of domain names as "work titles" (Intellectual Property Magazine, May 2010, pp. 42-43)

BergSpechte – the ‘forgotten’ AdWord case (ITMA Review, May 2010, pp. 19 - 20)

The Protection of Posthumous Works under the German Copyright Act: Motezuma's revenge? (Entertainment Law Review, Issue 3 2010, pp. 116 - 117)

Bundesgerichtshof decides in the Opel/Autec toy car case (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, April 2010, pp. 212 - 213)

'Best Buy' not distinctive enough for registration (ITMA Review, March 2010, pp. 12 - 13)

VIAGRA vs STYRIAGRA (Trademark World, February 2010, pp. 18 - 19)

World Cup trade mark dispute: 1-0 says the German Federal Supreme Court (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, February 2010, pp. 81 - 82)

Centrixx versus senisxx hinges on how Germans pronounce fantasy words (ITMA Review, January/February 2010, pp. 17 - 19)

Exclamation mark is not a trade mark, says the CFI! (ITMA Review, December 2009, pp. 19 - 20)

News comment: The Estate of Jim Morrison a/k/a Lou and Pearl Courson v Rick Sentieri, Communication Services Group (Entertainment Law Review, Issue 7 2009, pp. N-50 - N51)

In Dubio Pro Arte? No Ban for the Film ‘Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex’ (Entertainment Law Review, Issue 5 2009, pp.178 - 182)

Germany: Recent decisions by the German Federal Supreme Court (LL&P, July 2009, p. 11)

Bundesgerichtshof refers AdWord question to the ECJ (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, June 2009, pp. 396 - 398)

Hooray for Hollywood? (No) trade mark protection for Marlene Dietrich's Image (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, May 2009, pp. 314 - 316)

Afilias.de: no protection of earlier domain name registration? (Trademark World, April 2009, pp. 21 - 22)

Princess Caroline: German Federal Supreme Court Again Considers the Lawfulness of the Publication of a Celebrity Photograph (Entertainment Law Review, Issue 3 2009, pp. 107 - 111)

Ban on the 'real life horror movie' Rohtenburg upheld (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, March 2009, pp. 161 - 164)

Gesundheit! Some recent decisions by the German Federal Supreme Court (LL&P, February 2009, p. 10)

ECJ clarifies dilution test for owners of well-known brands (with Felicity Hide) (Managing Intellectual Property, February 2009, pp. 28 - 30)

Knut, Flocke, and Co: the bear facts revealed - Festive Feature Article (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, December 2008, pp. 764 - 774)

'Cool Water' and 'Icy Cold': comparative advertising for perfume imitations through the use of allusive product names (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, November 2008, pp. 688 - 690)

'Google AdWords', keywords, metatags: a view from one German Higher Regional Court (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, August 2008, pp. 496 - 498)

Parallel imports, repackaging of pharmaceuticals, and the forfeiture defence under Article 242 of the German Civil Code (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, May 2008, pp. 281 - 283)

Freedom of art v personality rights: ban upheld on the real life novel Esra (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, April 2008, pp. 221 - 224)

German Federal Supreme Court: no exclusive rights in the descriptive word ‘Kinder’ (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, March 2008, pp. 154 - 156)

Grossbritannien: Einführung eines beschleunigten Anmeldeverfahrens im Markenrecht (GRUR International, March 2008, pp. 267 - 268)

English ‘fantasy words’ in the mind of the German: what has art got to do with advertising? (Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, January 2008, pp. 10 - 12)

Grossbritannien: Änderungen im Markenrecht (GRUR International, December 2007, pp. 1053 – 1054)


Die Begrenzung des strafrechtlichen Schutzes der Ehre: durch die Meinungsfreiheit (Art. 5 I GG), die Kunstfreiheit (Art. 5 III GG) und die Wahrnehmung berechtigter Interessen (§ 193 StGB), Nomos Verlag Baden-Baden 2004, 363 pages, ISBN 978-3-8329-0722-8

Seminars/Conferences

Uniquely British – the “Threats” provision in the UK Trade Marks Act 1994 (GRUR Annual Conference 2014, Düsseldorf, Germany, 25 September 2014)
See here for more information.

"ISP Liability through "Interference" in Germany" - an overview (Online copyright + enforcement = happiness? IPKat event, Bristows, London, 1 April 2014)

See here for more information.

Passing off and Unfair Competition: a JIPLP-GRUR Int event (Baker & McKenzie LLP, London, 23 January 2014) - panellist
See here for more information.

“Trade Marks and the Internet...  MOST(ly) Pralines” (IPKat 10^th birthday seminar, Allen & Overy, London, 12 June 2013)

See here for more information.

"International Trade Marks: a potpourri of selected trends and topics" (AIJA IP Conference, London, 7 October 2011)

"If copyright won’t provide protection, what of other IP rights?" (Hardwicke Building Seminar:

Win the game or lose the plot? A seminar on copyright aspects of plots, themes and formats, London, 9 March 2011)
See here for more information.

"The Legality of Internet Search Engine Keywords" (Thomson Reuters Global IP Leaders Exchanges, London, 14 October 2010).
See here for more information.

"The German courts' position on AdWords" (IPKat Rapid Response Seminar, Ashurst, London, 25 March 2010).
See IPKat for more information here and here.

From “Impuls” to “Banana Bay” - the evolution of the German courts’ position on AdWords (CIPA Congress, London, 2 October 2009)
See Marques Class 46 for more information.

The Protection of Well-Known Marks after the L'Oreal AG Opinion and Intel - The German perspective (INTA Roundtable, London, 24 March 2009, PDF)
See UCL Laws website for more information.

The development of protection for legal and well-known marks (Class 46/Hardwicke Building “Rapid Response” Seminar, London, 27 November 2008)
See Marques Class 46 for more information.

My Thesis

Die Begrenzung des strafrechtlichen Schutzes der Ehre
Durch die Meinungsfreiheit (Art. 5 I GG), die Kunstfreiheit (Art. 5 III GG) und die Wahrnehmung berechtigter Interessen (§ 193 StGB)

My thesis is available at the following law libraries:

Universität Bonn, Harvard Law Library, UCLA Library, Basel Juristische Fakultät, University of Graz, University library Frankfurt, Oder, University of Zurich; University of Niigatu; Columbia University; University of Freiburg; Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Max-Planck-Institut Freiburg, Universität Heidelberg; Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; Bundesgerichtshof, Badische Landesbibliothek; Universitätsbibliothek Karlsruhe, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen, Institute der Universität Tübingen, , University of Bonn, University of Bonn; Bern UB JBB ; University of Bochum; University of Münster; Institut für Informations-, Telekommunikations- und Medienrecht Münster; University of Düsseldorf; University of Frankfurt am Main; Genfer Bibliotheksverbund; Bibliothek des Instituts für Europarecht - Universität Freiburg, Switzerland; Max-Planck-Institut für Geistiges Eigentum, Wettbewerbs- und Steuerrecht München; Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg; Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg - Hauptbibliothek; Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München; Universitätsbibliothek Würzburg; Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München; Bibliothek der Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder.


If you are conducting research in the same field and have any questions, please feel free to drop me an e-mail.