Google Play have been sending out notices to app developers without privacy policies in their store, threatening to switch off the lights if you do not put an adequate privacy policy in place or cease collecting “personal or sensitive data”. Personal data is wider than most businesses think. It is far broader than information such…
DetailsLast month, the UK High Court handed down judgment in relation to an account of profits calculation in the long-running saga between Champagne Louis Roderer and J Garcia Carrion following a 2015 finding of infringement of Roderer’s CRISTAL trade marks. Champagne Louis Roderer (CLR) is an internationally-known French producer of champagnes, in particular its prestige…
DetailsYou may have heard of BrewDog – the Scottish craft beer brewery and bar chain often credited as being a key player in the craft beer “revolution” in the UK. Usually in the headlines for quirky PR stunts and innovative approach to business, it will come as a shock to many that the headlines this…
DetailsI had a friend at University Rory O’Brien who used to often say when stressed ‘A pint of plain is your only man’. Once in front of a pint of plain he would wax lyrical on all manner of subjects but often on Irish literature including and his love of his namesake Flann O’Brien. It…
DetailsPuma has recently had its trade mark application for FOREVER FASTER refused in relation to footwear and sports goods. The EU General Court found that the mark was a simple laudatory statement which wasn’t sufficiently distinctive and, on that basis, it refused the application… Poor Puma? Well, the trade mark rules on distinctiveness are pretty…
DetailsWhen people announce ‘and now for something completely different’ what follows is often disappointingly not so very different. We were determined not to fall into that trap when organising our team social and Jo Shah and Ben Soyza from The Bollywood Co had us in the Bollywood groove within minutes of starting our class. The session was…
DetailsIt began down under … In 2012, Australia became the first country in the world to introduce legislation requiring plain packaging for cigarettes. Since then, several countries have followed suit or have made commitments to introduce plain packaging (including the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland). In Australia, the restrictions include a single colour…
DetailsAlthough I was not aware at the time my first exposure to the business pitch was probably that in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). There is a part when Caractacus Potts visits Lord Scrumptious in his factory to pitch his toote sweets (sweets that whistle) and after an unfortunate meeting Potts begs Lord…
DetailsThe toy manufacturers Hasbro are seeking a US trade mark for the smell of Play-Doh, their specimen is none other than a container of Play-Doh. At present, within the UK and EU, it is almost impossible to register a scent mark. Ralf Sieckmann found this to his detriment (Ralf Sieckmann V Deutsches Patent Und Markenamt, C-273/00). At…
DetailsOnce upon a time you could only listen to the music on the CDs that you brought along for your car trip or on the radio and you could only watch films by buying (or even renting) a video or DVD. Internet downloads and streaming have massively changed how we listen to music and watch…
DetailsWhile browsing greeting cards in a shop recently I was amused by a card which advised ‘Hire a teenager now – while they still know everything’. Later that same day I learnt that Michael Vaga aged 19 has invented an iPhone charger that generates energy from the human body. All you need do if you…
DetailsAs legal advisors, we often have to tread the murky ground of dispute resolution. Frequently, clients contact us, having fired the first shot against a potential infringer and have unwittingly found themselves at the end of counterclaim for ‘unjustified threats’ (better known as ‘groundless threats’ or simply ‘threats’), a peculiarity of IP disputes. In January,…
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