News

• Bayer Weighs Monsanto Bankruptcy as Roundup Litigation Mounts, While Securing Domain Victory in WIPO Dispute

  
  
  
  Bayer AG is escalating efforts to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, while preparing for the possibility of a bankruptcy filing for its U.S. agriculture unit, Monsanto, if negotiations falter. With more than 67,000 cases pending and $16 billion already earmarked for legal settlements, Bayer is exploring dual strategies: pushing for court-led resolution in Missouri and weighing Chapter 11 as a legal firewall. The German pharmaceutical and chemical conglomerate has retained restructuring advisers and is under pressure, with its share price down roughly 75% since acquiring Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018. Meanwhile, in a parallel trademark enforcement action, Bayer Consumer Care AG secured a WIPO panel ruling ordering the transfer of <bepanthencream.com>, a domain impersonating its skincare brand BEPANTHEN. The decision, issued on 21 April 2025, affirmed that the domain was registered and used in bad faith. These developments underscore Bayer’s multi-front legal strategy—managing mass-tort risk in the U.S. while aggressively protecting brand assets globally. The chart below shows Bayer Group's total assets from 2009 to 2023, illustrating its significant financial growth over the years.
  
  

  
  

  16/05/2025

• McDonald’s Wins EU Trademark Opposition Over Phonetically Similar Coffee Brand

  
  
  
  On 13 May 2025, the EUIPO Opposition Division upheld McDonald’s opposition to trademark for a coffee-related brand resembling 'MAK', ruling that it posed a likelihood of confusion with McDonald’s earlier mark 'GREEK MAC'. The decision states that the contested mark targeted identical goods—namely coffee beverages— and bore high aural similarity despite only low visual resemblance. The analysis focused on English-speaking consumers in Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden, for whom the verbal elements 'MAC' and 'MAK' were deemed phonetically indistinct. The descriptive or weakly distinctive nature of the term 'GREEK' further amplified the significance of the overlapping elements. While McDonald’s invoked a family of marks based on the 'Mc' prefix (e.g., McCafe, Big Mac, McRib), the Division ultimately concluded the opposition on the grounds of individual mark conflict rather than series association. Following visualisation shows detailed information on the opposed 'MAK' trademark.
  
  

  
  

  14/05/2025

• BMW Secures Victory in WIPO Dispute Over Gaming Domains Mimicking Its Brand

  
  
  
  In a ruling issued on 1 May 2025, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center ordered the transfer of two disputed domain names — <bmw.game> and <bmwonling.com> — to German automaker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), finding both registrations to be clear cases of cybersquatting. The panel concluded that the domains, which were used to promote online gaming services, were confusingly similar to BMW’s globally recognised trademark, noting that the mark was fully incorporated in both names. With no evidence of the registrants holding rights or legitimate interests, and given BMW’s longstanding trademark rights—dating back to 1929 in Germany and 1955 in the U.S.—the panel found it inconceivable that the respondents were unaware of the brand. The use of the BMW mark to attract users for commercial gain, coupled with the absence of a response from the domain holders, led to a determination of bad faith.
  
  

  
  

  09/05/2025