Blog & News

Help, I’ve Just Received A Cease And Desist Letter!

As intellectual property experts, we spend much of our time either sending or responding to cease and desist letters. These letters are the first step in intellectual property (IP) claims.…

How to protect a TV format

Game show formats and reality TV shows like Love Island and Big Brother have been extremely popular not only in the UK, but also internationally. Format rights are therefore important…

Help! I’ve received a Notice of Threatened Opposition, what do I do now?

Well, let’s start by explaining what a Notice of Threatened Opposition actually is… essentially it’s a form (called a TM7A if you’re interested) that potential opponents of a trade mark…

Karen Millen Loses Trade Mark Battle

UK Fashion Designer Karen Millen has lost her fight to trade under her own name following a ruling in the High Court. Central to the dispute was an agreement Millen…

Protecting Your Trade Mark – Use it or Lose it

The activities of rogue trade mark applicants have recently come to the attention of brand owners as a cause for concern. An increasingly common practice seems to be for these…

Specsavers: UK Intellectual Property Office approves “SHOULD’VE” trade mark application

Earlier this month, the UK Intellectual Property Office published a trade mark application made on behalf of Specsavers B.V. for the word “SHOULD’VE” / “SHOULDVE”. The company has had trade…

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…

The Real McCoy

In 2013, McDonald’s won a case in the EU Intellectual Property Office (then the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market) challenging the “MacCoffee” trade mark used by Future Enterprises…

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…

Protecting your IP – simple tips

That looks familiar? Simple advice on how to protect what’s yours The recent case of Tuesday Bassen (an illustrator and designer) against Zara (a multi-national fashion designer) reported reecently by…

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…

Unlawful broadcasting – Premier league and pubs

Premier League Pub Penalties – Broadcast Restrictions The Football Association Premier League (FA) and Sky have pursued several pubs for illegally broadcasting Premier League matches to the public. The FA…

Faulty Towers – the Dining Experience VS FAWLTY TOWERS

Fans of Faulty Towers will love this case from down under. The focus is whether an Australian Theatre company is infringing the intellectual property in ‘Faulty Towers’ concept which is…

Unjustified IP breach threats update

No longer a threat when making IP threats The Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Bill was introduced into the House of Lords on 19 May 2016. The new provisions aim to…

EU Trade Secrets Directive and Panama Papers

The leak of the Panama Papers highlighted an unprecedented disclosure of 11.5m files from the database of one of the world’s largest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The records were…

Aftermath of the Lacoste v Crocodile International trade mark battle

The ongoing trade mark battle between Lacoste and Crocodile International has finally come to an end in New Zealand. The trade mark dispute regarding the crocodile logo had been going…

Apple secures a new design patent for their Apple Watch

Apple has secured a new design patent from the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) for the Apple Watch to protect its design from being copied. The design patent was…

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…