UK public in the dark over copyright law New!
Apparently the majority of British Consumers are unsure about copyright law in the UK, according to a report published on 24 February 2010. If you want advice on copyright, particularly in relation to your designs and other material, please contact us.
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BLINKBOX case highlights consequences of delay New!
As a direct result of delaying filing its case, Internet video service company BLINXX has lost its trade mark infringement case against BLINKBOX.
UK High Court Judge Mr Justice Floyd stated "Blinxx had known since at least 2008 that Blinkbox was providing an on demand media service through its website but had taken no earlier steps to issue proceedings despite that knowledge". "It was wholly unreasonable and completely unjustified for Blinxx to wait to issue proceedings".
Blinxx began operating in 2004, Blinkbox filed CTM applications in 2008 for marks including the word BLINK, Blinxx wrote to Blinkbox but did not issue proceedings until 2010.
This case highlights the importance of taking action as soon as you become aware of infringing activity.
If you require further information please contact Andrew Marsden or your usual conatct at Saunders & Dolleymore LLP.
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WIPO Rules on Misuse of Domain Names Case New!
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) ruled last week that over 1500 domain names held by a German individual should be transferred to the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). IHG brought an action before WIPO under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy which allows for one case to be used to settle a number of related disputes.
Daniel Kirchhof was found to hold around 70,000 domain names, 1500 of which IHG claimed were identical or confusingly similar to its trade marks. WIPO upheld IHG’s complaint deciding that Kirchhof’s use of IHG’s trade marks to attract internet users to goods and services in competition with those of IHG cannot be considered bona fide use and that he was acting in bad faith. IHG has managed to take control of a substantial number of domain names, used in a manner that infringed its rights, based on the strength of its trade marks.
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Paperless UDRP Domain Name proceedings New!
WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) has introduced paperless proceedings for the UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy) thereby allowing users to file all evidence and claims electronically. We can advise on the UDRP proceedings, file and manage dispute claims under the UDRP. If you have a potential conflict concerning a trade mark and a .com or other gTLD domain name subject to the UDRP proceedings and would like assistance please do not hesitate to contact Andrew Marsden or your usual contact at Saunders & Dolleymore LLP.
9-Feb-10
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Oink - File sharing trial begins in the UK New!
The trial of the man accused of operating the illegal downloading site has begun in the UK Crown Court. Oink at one time had 200,000 members and the site facilitated the sharing of thousands of music albums often before their official release. The operator of the site denies the charges of conspiracy to defraud the music industry claiming that he did not break the law, he claims that it was the members who chose to download the music thereby breaking the law.
1-Feb-10
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The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) between the EPO, USPTO and JPO has expanded from 29 January 2010. New!
Broadly, if a patent application (or PCT National Phase Application) in one of these countries is based upon an earlier application in another one, or, in the case of an International Application, had one or more claims considered patentable by the International Search Authority, it may be possible to use the PPH to accelerate the prosecution and enable patent Examiners to use the results of each other’s work. Please contact John Kensett or your usual contact here for more details.
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Major Changes to London’s Patent County Court – Cheaper litigation on the way New!
In a recent review of Civil litigation, proposals to reform the Patents County Court look likely to be implemented. The proposals make changes to the way in which lower value Intellectual Property cases are heard, the court will be renamed the Intellectual Property Court, hearings will be limited and trials restricted to one or two days. Recovery of costs will be capped at £50,000 for Patent cases and £25,000 in other cases. Financial remedies will be limited to £500,000. If implemented the changes should promote access to justice at a proportionate cost for SME’s and other parties in lower value IP disputes.
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10% tax rate for patent-derived income to encourage R&D
The Chancellor has announced (as part of the pre-budget report) a cut in corporation tax for income which stems from patents in the UK. From 2013, the rate of corporation tax will be cut to just 10 per cent for income which stems from patents in the UK.
Announcing the measure, Mr Darling said: “This country has a remarkable record of ideas and innovation. We’ve won more Nobel prizes than any country of our size. We need to do more to support this ingenuity and ensure this creativity is harnessed in this country. I want to encourage research and development in the pharmaceuticals and biotech industries.
“So, following consultation with business, I will introduce a 10 per cent corporation tax rate on income which stems from patents in the UK. This will help maintain jobs in science and technology in this country.”
For more information on this topic please do not hesitate to contact us.
16-Dec-09
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UK Company Names Tribunal
The UK Company Names Tribunal issued its first decision in December 2008 finding in favour of The Coca-Cola Company in its case against the company name registration Coke Cola Limited. There have now been over 60 Decisions issued by the Tribunal and although most of these involve well known or relatively famous company names the Tribunal is a useful tool for any company to consider if it encounters problems with an identical / similar company name registration. The circumstances must meet the requirements of the Tribunal which are essentially that a party has a similar name with attached goodwill and that use of the third party company name would be misleading.
For more information on this topic please do not hesitate to contact us.
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Google Adwords & Trade Mark Infringement - latest news
The advocate general at Europe’s highest court has given his opinion in the pending cases before the ECJ between Google and a number of brand owners. Somewhat surprisingly the opinion is in favour of Google, backing the sale of adwords which use third party trade marks.
The advocate general has said that Google has not committed trade mark infringement by allowing advertisers to select in adwords, keywords which correspond to trade marks. Such use is not deemed to be use in relation to goods/services as nothing is being sold to the general public. Similarly advertisers do not commit trade mark infringement during this process. Furthermore, the advocate general stated that the links displayed by the keywords do not constitute trade mark infringement.
This is only the latest development in the cases concerning keywords and until the ECJ delivers its judgment, which is expected early next year, the position regarding adwords remains uncertain.
For more information on this topic please do not hesitate to contact us.
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UKIPO trade mark e-filing fees discount
The official fee to apply for registration of a UK trade mark has been reduced by £30 GBP for applications filed via the e-filing system only. For more information on obtaining trade mark protection in the UK and overseas please do not hesitate to contact us.
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