Category: intellectual property

Karen Millen Fashions Ltd v Dunnes Stores and others – WLR Daily

Posted June 24th, 2014 in Community designs, EC law, intellectual property, law reports, regulations by sally

Karen Millen Fashions Ltd v Dunnes Stores and others (Case C-345/13); ECLI:EU:C:2014:2013; [2014] WLR (D) 273

‘Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs meant that, in order for a design to be considered to have individual character, the overall impression which that design produced on the informed user had to be different from that produced on such a user, not by a combination of features taken in isolation and drawn from a number of earlier designs, but by one or more earlier designs, taken individually. Article 85(2) meant that, in order for a Community design court to treat an unregistered Community design as valid, the right holder of that design was not required to prove that it had individual character within the meaning of article 6, but need only indicate what constituted the individual character of that design, ie, indicated what, in his view, were the element or elements of the design concerned which gave it its individual character.’

WLR Daily, 19th June 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Oberbank AG v Deutscher Sparkassen-und Giroverband eV; Banco Santander SA and another v Same – WLR Daily

Posted June 24th, 2014 in banking, EC law, intellectual property, law reports, trade marks by sally

Oberbank AG v Deutscher Sparkassen-und Giroverband eV; Banco Santander SA and another v Same (Joined Cases C-217/13 and C-218/13); ECLI:EU:C:2014:2012; [2014] WLR (D) 274

‘Article 3(1) and (3) of Parliament and Council Directive 2008/95/EC of 22 October 2008 to approximate the laws of the member states relating to trade marks precluded an interpretation of national law according to which, in the context of proceedings raising the question whether a contourless colour mark had acquired a distinctive character through use, it was necessary in every case that a consumer survey indicated a degree of recognition of at least 70%.’

WLR Daily, 19th June 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Researchers given ‘data mining’ right under new UK copyright laws – OUT-LAW.com

Posted June 3rd, 2014 in computer programs, copyright, education, intellectual property, libraries, news by sally

‘Copying content from online journals or other texts for the purposes of non-commercial research is no longer an infringement of UK copyright laws providing copiers have lawful access to that content and they, generally, make “a sufficient acknowledgement” of the original work.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 2nd June 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

Man behind Newzbin operations found liable for copyright infringement on the sites – OUT-LAW.com

Posted May 27th, 2014 in conspiracy, copyright, fraud, intellectual property, internet, news by sally

‘The High Court has found a man liable for copyright infringement carried out on the file sharing Newzbin websites and ruled that he also part of a conspiracy to infringe copyrights and defraud film studios.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 23rd May 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

Intellectual Property Act 2014

Posted May 15th, 2014 in intellectual property, legislation, patents by tracey

Intellectual Property Act 2014 published

Full text of Act

Source: www.legislation.gov.uk

Law Society urges people to leave instructions for their digital legacy – The Guardian

Posted April 17th, 2014 in intellectual property, internet, Law Society, news, wills by tracey

‘Solicitors organisation warns that too much valuable, intellectual property is in danger of being lost when we die.’

Full story

The Guardian, 16th April 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Intellectual property law – achieving a balance between the right to enforce and protecting innovation – Law Commission

Posted April 16th, 2014 in civil procedure rules, competition, enforcement, intellectual property, Law Commission, patents, reports, trade marks by tracey

‘Patents, trade marks and design rights are valuable intellectual property (IP) rights and vital to economic growth. They ensure that research and innovation is encouraged and rewarded. And, for some small businesses, they can represent their most significant assets. The law provides effective ways to enforce IP rights but these can be misused to drive competitors from the market. In a report published today, the Law Commission is recommending reforms that will allow individuals and businesses to protect their IP rights but not at the expense of new ideas and inventions.’

Full report

Law Commission, 15th April 2014

Source: www.justice.gov.uk/lawcommission

Intellectual Property in the UK and Europe – Speech by Lord Neuberger

Posted April 14th, 2014 in EC law, intellectual property, news, patents, trade marks by sally

Intellectual Property in the UK and Europe (PDF)

Speech by Lord Neuberger

Burrell Lecture for the Competition Law, 1st April 2014

Source: www.supremecourt.uk

“The Only Girl in the World”: the Rihanna judgment and the protection of ‘image rights’ in English law – Sports Law Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers

Posted March 10th, 2014 in intellectual property, media, news, photography, sport, trade marks by sally

‘Despite the evident commercial value in the ‘image’ of modern sports personalities (indeed there are annual awards held by the BBC to identify the most noteworthy) there is no specific right to protect one’s image under English law. Relying on a cocktail of different causes of action and legal rights, English law offers some protections to a person whose ‘image’ is exploited for commercial reasons. The ingredients include: copyright and trademarks, the torts of defamation, breach of confidence, passing-off as well potentially through statutory rules ensuring data protection.’

Full story

Sports Law Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers, 7th March 2014

Source: www.sportslawbulletin.org

Registered Community Designs: Magmatic Ltd v PMS International Ltd – NIPC Law

Posted March 5th, 2014 in appeals, intellectual property, interpretation, news, trade marks by sally

‘In Magmatic Ltd v PMS International Ltd [2013] EWHC 1925 (Pat) (11 July 2013) Mr Justice Arnold held that PMS International Ltd (“PMS”) had infringed registered Community design number 43427-0001 (“the RCD”), some of Magmatic Ltd (“Magmatic”)’s design rights and Magmatic’s literary copyright in its safety notice. Magmatic appealed to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that the judge fell into error in finding infringement of the RCD in that he had wrongly interpreted the RCD and improperly excluded from his consideration various aspects of the design of Magimax’s product. In Magmatic Ltd v PMS International Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 181 (28 Feb 2014) the Court of Appeal (Lords Justices Moses and Kitchin and Lady Justice Black) allowed the appeal.’

Full story

NIPC Law, 4th March 2014

Source: www.nicplaw.blogspot.co.uk

Trade Marks: British Shorinji Kempo Federation v Shorinji Kempo Unity – NIPC Law

Posted March 3rd, 2014 in appeals, consent, intellectual property, news, trade marks by sally

‘Two interesting points arose in British Shorinji Kempo Federation v Shorinji Kempo Unity [2014] EWHC 285 (Ch) (17 Feb 2014) in which my colleague Thomas Dillon appeared for the British Shorinji Kempo Foundation (“BSKF”) on a pro bono basis. The first was what constitutes genuine use for the purpose of s.6A of the Trade Marks Act 1994. The second was the methodology by which the judge determined whether the mark that had BSKF sought to register was similar to one that had previously been registered by Shorinji Kempo Unity (“SKU”) and if so whether there was any likelihood of confusion for the purposes of s.5 (2) of the Act.’

Full story

NIPC Law, 24th February 2014

Source: www.nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk

SPCs – unhealthy combinations of new cases – Technology Law Update

Posted February 27th, 2014 in intellectual property, medicines, news, patents by sally

‘The Supplementary Protection Certificate. A marvellous little device for giving back to a patent owner the lost years during which it has been obtaining regulatory approval for its products in those heavily regulated areas: pharmaceuticals and plant protection products. You simply extend the patent by the number of years that the product has spent caught up in the approval process, and there you are. A gain of up to five valuable years on the end of your patent in the prime of the product’s life.’

Full story

Technology Law Update, 26th February 2014

Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk

Food for thought: is an unauthorised photo of your restaurant meal an IP breach? – Legal Week

Posted February 19th, 2014 in consent, food, intellectual property, internet, misrepresentation, news, photography by sally

‘I do it. My friends do it. And I suspect that you’ve occasionally done it. It is what is colloquially referred to as ‘food porn’ – the salivating over restaurant menus online in preparation for a meal and then, depending on your social media connectedness, the Instagram shot of what you are about to devour.

One would think the broadcasting of delicious delicacies by diners would be welcomed by chefs and restaurateurs as free advertising of their wares. Not so. France TV Info reports that Gilles Goujon, who operates a three-starred restaurant called L’Auberge du vieux Puits in the south of France declares that such activities are not only poor etiquette (fair enough) but, when his dishes appear online, it takes away “a little bit of my intellectual property”. The BBC reports that another chef in La Madelaine-sous-Montreuil in the north of France has also inserted a ‘no camera’ provision on his menus.’

Full story

Legal Week, 18th February 2014

Source: www.legalweek.co.uk

Rivella International AG v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) ( Baskaya di Baskaya Alim e C Sas intervening) – WLR Daily

Posted December 17th, 2013 in appeals, EC law, intellectual property, law reports, regulations, trade marks, treaties by sally

Rivella International AG v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) ( Baskaya di Baskaya Alim e C Sas intervening) Case (C-445/12P); [2013] WLR (D) 493

‘Trade marks registered under international arrangements which had effect in a member state, as referred to in article 8(2)(a)(iii) of Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the Community trade mark (OJ 2009 L78, p 1), were subject to the same system as trade marks registered in a member state, as referred to in article 8(2)(a)(ii) of the Regulation. As such, where pleaded in opposition proceedings before OHIM, they were subject to the requirement in article 42(3) of the Regulation to prove the requisite prior use, the concept of use of a Community trade mark in the European Union being exclusively and exhaustively governed by EU law.’

WLR Daily, 12th December 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

HTC Corpn v Nokia Corpn – WLR Daily

Posted December 6th, 2013 in injunctions, intellectual property, law reports, patents, telecommunications by tracey

HTC Corpn v Nokia Corpn: [2013] EWHC 3778 (Pat);   [2013] WLR (D)  468

‘The criteria to be applied in deciding whether or not to grant an injunction for infringement of intellectual property rights were those of efficacy, proportionality, dissuasiveness, the avoidance of creating barriers to legitimate trade and the provision of safeguards against abuse as set out in article 3(2) of Parliament and Council Directive 2004/48/EC.’

WLR Daily, 3rd December 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Judge orders UK ban of one HTC device but stays decision on ban of another – OUT-LAW.com

Posted December 5th, 2013 in intellectual property, news, patents, stay of proceedings, telecommunications by sally

‘An HTC mobile device will be banned from sale in the UK after Friday afternoon unless the company wins the right to appeal against the imposition of that ban on that timescale.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 5th December 2013

Source: www.out-law.com

Court of Appeal backs parallel UK and EPO patent proceedings but alters guidelines for future cases – OUT-LAW.com

Posted November 22nd, 2013 in appeals, intellectual property, news, patents, stay of proceedings, telecommunications by tracey

‘A dispute over the alleged infringement of a standard-essential mobile technology European patent will be ruled on by the High Court despite there being ongoing proceedings before the European Patent Office (EPO) about whether the patent is valid.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 21st November 2013

Source: www.out-law.com

IP in tattoos, seriously? – Technology Law Update

Posted October 25th, 2013 in artistic works, copyright, intellectual property, news by sally

“There has been a lot of discussion over the last couple of years in the media about what intellectual property exists in tattoos and who owns it. It is likely that tattoos, if original artistic works, will be subject to copyright and the owner of copyright works is generally the person who created them, i.e. the tattoo artist.”

Full story

Technology Law Update, 24th October 2013

Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk

The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court – not just a new name – Technology Law Update

Posted October 23rd, 2013 in courts, intellectual property, judiciary, jurisdiction, news by tracey

“On 1 October 2013, the Patents County Court (‘PCC’) was renamed the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (‘IPEC’). Many practitioners just note it, in passing, as part of the effort by the Government to enhance the popularity of the PCC/IPEC – part of their agenda promoting innovation (particularly for small and medium sized enterprises), rather than a change with a significant impact on the law. However, to dismiss it as ‘just a new name’ would not be quite accurate.”

Full story

Technology Law Update, 22nd October 2013

Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk

Performing Right Society Ltd v B4U Network (Europe) Ltd – WLR Daily

Posted October 18th, 2013 in appeals, artistic works, copyright, intellectual property, law reports by tracey

Performing Right Society Ltd v B4U Network (Europe) Ltd: [2013] EWCA Civ 1236;   [2013] WLR (D)  385

“Where a composition fell within the terms of an agreement assigning copyright to the Performing Right Society the effect of section 2(1) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 was to vest copyright in the society as soon as the work was created, notwithstanding an agreement with those commissioning the work which purported to assign to them all rights in future works.”

WLR Daily, 16th October 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk