IP hub

Thinking - Blog

Breaking the (supply) chain

10 January 2014

Determining the source of infringing goods put on the market is often a priority for trade mark owners seeking to prevent sales of infringing products.

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Thinking - Blog

You've been framed - High Court issues ISP blocking order

07 January 2014

The UK High Court has once again shown its support for copyright holders, granting six major film companies blocking orders under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 against the UK's six main internet service providers ...

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Thinking - Blog

Harmonisation of EU copyright: the Commission consults

07 January 2014

The European Commission (the "Commission") is set to complete its review of copyright law in the EU by spring 2014.

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Thinking - Blog

Trade secrets: proposed European harmonization – an update

Published on 11 December 2013. By David Cran, Partner, Head of IP & Tech

Following a study on trade secrets and confidential information in the internal market ...

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Thinking - Blog

No copyright in software functionality – SAS v WPL, the final chapter

Published on 02 December 2013. By David Cran, Partner, Head of IP & Tech

The Court of Appeal has handed down its decision in the lengthy SAS Institute Inc. v World

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Thinking - Blog

Banks beware: IP rights may trump customer confidentiality

Published on 27 November 2013. By David Cran, Partner, Head of IP & Tech

The German Supreme Court has recently asked the Court of Justice of the European (CJEU) whether a bank can refuse to disclose confidential information about one of its customers to a third party who alleges that the customer is using the bank's services to sell counterfeit products and infringe the third party's trade marks.

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Thinking - Blog

Mattel Left Scrambled without any Friends in the Court

Published on 25 November 2013. By Ben Mark, Partner

Following a recent defeat in the Court of Appeal in relation to the validity of its three-dimensional tile mark (J W Spear & Son Ltd, Mattel Inc. and Mattel UK Ltd v Zynga Inc [2013] EWCA Civ 1175) ...

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Thinking - Blog

Groundless Threats: Time for Reform?

Published on 14 November 2013. By Jeremy Drew, Partner, Head of Commercial and Georgia Davis, Of Counsel

Current IP legislation provides for protection against groundless threats in respect of IP infringement being brought by a rights holder against a competitor.

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Thinking - Blog

A Wii forward, not a load of DS: anti-copyright measures and proportionality in the Copyright Directive

Published on 01 November 2013. By David Cran, Partner, Head of IP & Tech

On 19 September 2013, Advocate General Sharpston gave an Opinion on questions referred to the Court of Justice of the European by the Tribunale de Milano (Italy) (Case C-355/12 Nintendo Co Ltd v PC Box Srl).

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Thinking - Blog

Trade Secrets – A Unified European Regime?

Published on 21 October 2013. By David Cran, Partner, Head of IP & Tech and Louise Morgan, Senior Associate

Earlier this year, a study was prepared for the European Commission relating to the treatment of Trade Secrets and Confidential Business Information within the internal market.

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Thinking - Blog

Trade Mark Protection: Court of Appeal says distinctiveness is not enough

Published on 15 October 2013. By Jeremy Drew, Partner, Head of Commercial and Ciara Cullen, Partner

The Court of Appeal for England and Wales recently handed down its much anticipated ruling in Cadbury's long-drawn-out battle to maintain its UK trade mark registration for the colour purple.

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Thinking - Blog

Copyright Guide 2013

Published on 12 September 2013. By David Cran, Partner, Head of IP & Tech

We are pleased to attach a link to an overview of UK copyright, which we trust will prove a useful reference for any copyright issues that you may face, whether in the context of disputes or commercial matters.

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Thinking - Blog

Rihanna's image protected under the 'umbrella' of passing off

Published on 10 September 2013. By David Cran, Partner, Head of IP & Tech

The High Court has recently held that the fashion retailer Topshop's unauthorised use of an image of the famous pop star, Rihanna, amounted to passing off.

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Thinking - Blog

The Trade Mark Clearing House – Do You Need to Sign Up?

02 September 2013

In January 2012, ICAAN began allowing organisations to apply for new Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) which will operate alongside the 280 Country Code Top Level Domains (.com and .co.uk etc) and the 22 existing gTLDs (.biz and .info etc).

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Thinking - Blog

Trunki successfully wheels out design rival before the High Court

27 August 2013

The High Court has recently found that design rights and copyright in the well-known 'Trunki' rideon suitcase for children were infringed by a Hong Kong based competitor's ride-on suitcase for children called the 'Kiddee Case'.

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Thinking - Blog

BSKYB on cloud 9 as court rules Microsoft's "SkyDrive" infringes its marks

Published on 31 July 2013. By Jeremy Drew, Partner, Head of Commercial

The High Court has ruled in favour of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc ("BSkyB") following a trade mark dispute with Microsoft Corporation ("Microsoft") over Microsoft's "SkyDrive" online storage facility.

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Thinking - Blog

Vestergaard – guarding trade secrets

Published on 29 July 2013. By David Cran, Partner, Head of IP & Tech and Louise Morgan, Senior Associate

The Supreme Court has ruled, in the final stage of this case, that an ex-employee could not have misused confidential information if she did not know about (i) the confidential information; and (ii) the fact of its misuse.

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Thinking - Blog

Interflora v Marks and Spencer

31 May 2013

Following years of legal wrangling between Interflora and Marks and Spencer (M&S) in respect of keyword advertising, on 21 May 2013, the High Court handed down a substantial 99 page judgment, ultimately, in favour of Interflora as trademark owner.

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Thinking - Blog

Copyright: Supreme Court Considers "Browsing Defence"

28 May 2013

The Supreme Court has handed down its long awaited decision in the Meltwater case which addresses important questions about the application of copyright law to internet browsing.

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Thinking - Blog

Cut off the head but beware that the sub-licence may not die

29 April 2013

In the recent High Court decision VLM Holdings Limited v Ravensworth Digital Services Limited [1] Mann J has ruled that a sub-licence is capable of surviving termination of its head licence in certain (albeit, fact-specific) circumstances.

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Thinking - Blog

High Court finds that "History" can be repeated

08 April 2013

A highly anticipated High Court decision was handed down 1 February 2013 dismissing claims for trade mark infringement and passing off brought by A & E Television Networks LLC and its UK subsidiary AETN against Discovery Communications Europe Ltd.

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Thinking - Blog

High Court reaffirms no copyright protection for computer program functionality

Published on 30 March 2013. By David Cran, Partner, Head of IP & Tech and Ben Mark, Partner

In what should be the final instalment in a long-running case, on January 25 2013 a decision was issued in SAS Institute Inc v World Programming Ltd[i] following the referral back to the High Court from the European Court of Justice (ECJ)

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Thinking - Blog

Supreme Court clarifies what constitutes 'making' a patented product

Published on 25 March 2013. By Louise Morgan, Senior Associate

On 13 March 2013 the Supreme Court issued its weighty decision in the long-running case of Schütz v Werit([2013] UKSC 16).

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Thinking - Blog

Surveying the legal landscape

Published on 26 January 2013. By Jeremy Drew, Partner, Head of Commercial

The Court of Appeal has handed down its much anticipated judgment on the admissibility of survey evidence in the long running trade mark dispute between Marks & Spencer and Interflora.

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