No stranger to a good intellectual property dispute, Jay-Z is in the news again – this time for issuing proceedings against children’s author Jessica Chiha, who wrote “A B to Jay-Z”, a book designed to teach children to read using references to hip-hop culture, including artist names and lyrics. This follows two Cease and Desist letters in which Jay-Z asked Ms Chiha (and her company The Little Homie) to top selling the book, as far back as March…
continue readingBrand protection… the big questions answered
Have you spent months developing the prefect brand name? Have you bought a domain name or registered a company name featuring the brand? Maybe you’re really far down the road, you’re selling your goods or services, advertising and looking for investment? If any of this applies to you then you need to register a trade mark. How to do it Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a single worldwide trade mark and so brand owners need select countries…
continue readingNew ammunition against trade mark squatters in China?
Due to the “first to file” system that operates in relation to the registration of trade marks in China, there are copious instances of trade mark squatting. This presents a major problem for those trying to protect their brands in China. However, there has been a recent development in this area. A trade mark in China, can be invalided on one of two grounds. Either on relative grounds, which means that the trade mark in question conflicts with…
continue readingIt’s all Tic for Tac in trade mark disputes
Ferrero is the manufacturer of the well-known comfits marketed and sold under the ‘Tic Tac’ brand. If you don’t know what a ‘comfit’ is (I didn’t), it’s “a sweet consisting of a nut, seed, or other centre coated in sugar” (thanks, Google). ‘Tic Tac’ is obviously a very well-known brand name and is protected by various trade mark registrations for the words ‘Tic Tac’ and various versions of the Tic Tac logo in numerous territories around the world.…
continue readingCostly opposition proceedings
The UK Intellectual Property Office’s (UKIPO) decision on costs O-694-19 between Retina International Ltd (Retina International) (the trade mark applicant) and Apple, Inc (Apple) (the opposing party) gives a good warning as to costs in trade mark opposition proceedings. Hearing Officer, Mark King, ordered Retina International pay Apple the sum of £24,550 being Apple’s reasonable costs – I bet Retina International wish they saw that one coming! Well in fact perhaps it did see it coming: the main…
continue readingNo contract no liability?
If someone does work for you, but you have yet to sign a written contract (or even orally agree to a contract), can you still be held liable to pay for the work? In AMP Advisory & Management Partners AG v Force India Formula One Team Limited, the High Court said yes. What happened? The facts of this case are relatively simple: Force India entered into a sponsorship agreement with an Austrian water company, which AMP brokered. AMP…
continue readingLegal Risks of Using Style Names
It is common practice for fashion, beauty and design industries generally to use style names to differentiate between their products and lines – think of iconic Hermes’ ‘Birkin’ and ‘Kelly’ bags – which is far more convenient and customer-friendly than applying numerical codes to the products. These creative industries are very fast-moving, with numerous new products and styles being introduced at least every season – and the designers come up with dozens new style names to go with…
continue readingThe Great British Bake Off Parody Conundrum
While viewing figures for the last run of the Great British Bake Off are reportedly down the program is well ingrained in the country’s popular culture. There is even a Junior GBBO presumably intended to capture some of the magic and viewers the adult show is losing. With such success comes opportunity for the owners of the rights in the program to choose the direction of further exploitation and spin off and ultimately make more money. In that…
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