The Rubik’s Cube shape trade mark declared invalid
In 1999 Seven Towns successfully registered the Rubik’s cube as a 3D EU trade mark. In 2006, a German toy manufacturer, Simba Toys, applied to cancel the trade mark on…
Protecting your ideas and know how – Confidential Information
Do you pitch ideas and designs as part of a tender or potential investment deal? Does your employee have access to your client lists? Does your manufacturer have detailed information…
Guess? What happened with Gucci’s trade mark
Do you see a ‘G’, ‘X’, ‘3’, or ‘E’? This was one of the considerations of the EU General Court in dismissing Gucci’s appeals against the Board of Appeal’s decision…
Infringing Playboy and it’s not Trump!
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) have ruled that hyperlinks can infringe copyright within the EU. In 2011, GS Media published a report regarding nude photos of…
Up the creek without a Raft – a lesson in IP ownership
The UK courts started back in full swing this week after a two-month summer break, which means that legal practitioners all over the country are eagerly awaiting shiny new legal…
Swatch opposed Apple’s trade mark for the “iWatch” and won
Apple better “Watch” out… Swatch has successfully opposed Apple’s application for the trademark iWatch in the UK. Swatch said that on account of their reputation as a quality Swiss watch…
Free Wi-Fi providers are not liable for copyright infringement
Tobias McFadden a German national, wished to promote his business and website by allowing free open access to his Wi-Fi connection. In 2010, copyrighted content owned by Sony was downloaded,…
A staple purchase?
Asos spends over £20 million in global settlement to end trade mark infringement claims The e-commerce retailer Asos– formerly known as “As Seen On Screen” has agreed to pay out…
Ashley Madison & Brand Management
“Life is short. Have an affair” (a registered Trade Mark) was the famous slogan of Ashley Madison, a Canadian company launched as a mobile app in 2001. This was a…
New Rights for Furniture and Jewellery Designers Against Copycats
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 changed in July 2016, reviving copyright protection in artistic works which had previously had their copyright protection cut short to a period of…
No stopping Pokemon GO!
We’ve all heard about the latest augmented reality game and the impact it’s had on our streets. But what does it mean for the world of IP? The game was…
Fox film studio sued by unpaid interns on Black Swan production
The class action between Fox and its interns that has been going on since 2010 has finally reached a conclusion. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc and Fox Entertainment Group, Inc filed…
Trade mark website blocking orders rubber-stamped by UK appeal court
The UK Court of Appeal this month handed down its long-awaited decision in Cartier International AG and others v British Sky Broadcasting Limited and others [2016] EWCA Civ 658, effectively…
Virtual currency – legal aspects of Bitcoin
VIRTUAL CURRENCY This week a judge in Florida ruled that Bitcoin is not actually money, stating that Bitcoin was not backed by a government or bank, and was not “tangible…
Intellectual Property Litigation Funding
Litigation Funding Factors to Consider In a 2011 case, clothes designer and Queen of Punk, Vivien Westwood, won a legal battle after the opposing party infringed her intellectual property rights. …
Calculating damages in IP claims
The Assessment of damages- “the exercise of a sound imagination and the practice of the broad axe” The aim of damages, in relation to intellectual property rights infringement, is to…
Groundless threats of breach of IP
Groundless Threats – the Reforms Following an investigation by the Law Commission the UK government recently published a press release on the issue of “groundless threats” in relation to patents,…
What is personal confidential information?
Don’t mention the war It may surprise you to read that under English law and unlike in the USA, there is no absolute right to keep personal information confidential. However,…
Data protection with mobile apps
As part of a global body, 26 privacy regulators from across the world have surveyed 1,211 mobile apps to investigate the transparency of their privacy practices. Of those, the UK’s…
Music Industry Copyright
On 1 October 2014, the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Personal Copies for Private Use) Regulations 2014 came into force, implementing Article 5(2)(b) of the Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC) to provide,…
Image Rights – Rihanna
Rihanna’s image is protected under the ‘umbrella’ of passing off The Court of Appeal dismissed Topshop’s appeal, confirming that its sale of the t-shirt bearing Rihanna’s image amounted to passing…
How much are your Intellectual Property Rights worth?
As a business, it is important to consider how much your intellectual property rights are worth. This is not just relevant to business owners who are thinking of selling their…
Back off matey, I’ve got copyright protecting my bits and pieces!
A Californian student brought an interesting lawsuit against her ex boyfriend recently, by suing him for copyright infringement. The work in question was a home made video and…
Can you trade mark the taste of food?
I know that taste… A US court has recently ruled, in the case of New York Pizzeria v Ravinder Syal that a restaurant couldn’t claim trade mark rights over the…