News
McDonald’s v MacCoffee: a family affair
2 August 2016Read more >T-518/13 Future Enterprises v EUIPO Can ownership of a family of trade marks help to prove infringement? According to the EU’s General Court, the answer is yes. In this case, McDonald’s were able to invalidate a third party’s registration for MACCOFFEE. The Court held that where a party owned a set of earlier registrations, all […]
Cartier v BSkyB – Court of Appeal confirms website blocking orders for Trade Mark infringement
20 July 2016Read more >The Court of Appeal has handed down its decision in Cartier International and Others vs BSkyB and Others [2016] EWCA Civ 658 and has upheld the High Court’s decision. Our earlier report of the High Court decision can be found here. High Court Summary The Claimants (Cartier, Mont Blanc and Richemont) own trade mark registrations for […]
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union – Business as usual
24 June 2016Read more >The people of the UK have voted to leave the European Union (EU). The referendum of 23 June 2016 concerning the UK’s membership of the EU has resulted in 52% of voters opting for the UK to leave the economic and political union established under the EU. From an Intellectual Property user’s perspective nothing will […]
An update on the revamped UK IPO Opinion Service
21 June 2016Read more >With the implementation of the Intellectual Property Act 2014, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) received increased powers with respect to its Opinion Service. Thirty months later, we have delved into the cases that have been heard to look at the effect the revamp has had. It serves as a timely reminder of a […]
Eligibility of medical devices for SPCs
15 June 2016Read more >Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) provide valuable patent term extensions that compensate both the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries for the delays suffered in bringing their products to market as a result of complex regulatory processes. Despite sometimes requiring similar levels of regulation to pharmaceutical products, medical devices are still not entitled to SPC protection. Whilst this […]
High Court Trade Mark Decision Leaves Tobacco Companies Fuming
10 June 2016Read more >British American Tobacco & others v Department of Health [2016] EWHC 1169 This case concerns the introduction of plain packaging legislation for tobacco products in the United Kingdom. The decision was handed down on 19 May ahead of the introduction of the Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”) on 20 May, the UK’s […]
