Sweet Smells and a Sour Taste - The ECJ's L'Oréal decision

In this brief comment on the ECJ’s decision L’Oréal v. Bellure (decision of 18 June 2009 case C-487/07 ) the authors argue that by protecting the reputation of a precious mark at the expense of consumer information about the availability of products legitimately offered on the market, the Court has failed to give an adequate response to the underlying conflict between the interests of the trade mark holder and freedom of commercial speech.

Keywords: Comparative advertising, unfair use of reputation, ECJ, freedom of commercial speech, Article 10 ECHR

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Kur, Annette and Bently, Lionel A. F. and Ohly, Ansgar, Sweet Smells and a Sour Taste - The ECJ's L'Oréal decision (August 17, 2009). Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition & Tax Law Research Paper No. 09-12, University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 10/01, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1492032 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1492032