Category: Infringement
Orphan works – who owns the copyright? No excuse for infringement
| 15th March 2017
A work doesn’t have to be marked with a © to be a copyright work. Copyright originates automatically in any original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work. Accidentally infringing copyright is therefore easier than you might think! To avoid infr …
John McAfee sues Intel for the right to use his name
| 9th November 2016
The maverick computer security entrepreneur John McAfee has recently filed suit against Intel Corp. over his right to use his own name. Intel Corp. maintain that they do not oppose McAfee’s right to use his own name in connection with his business vent …
Apple vs Samsung (Or Carpets, Courts and Cash)
| 13th October 2016
You might think that, with Samsung’s exploding phones and Apple ordered to pay a €13 billion Irish tax bill, these two technology giants would have more important things to worry about than design patents. But with about $400 million on the table this …
How is it possible to trademark words?
| 3rd October 2016
Specsavers have applied to register the trademark “Should’ve” at the UK IPO. It is a contraction of their familiar slogan: “Should’ve gone to Specsavers”. The case has highlighted a recent tendency towards trademarking common words. Although this strat …
Demystifying Patents Language
| 15th September 2016
The language used by IP professionals can seem opaque to a person who has not had significant previous exposure to the field. This can lead to wasted time, and worse, persistent misunderstandings in correspondence between IP professionals and their cli …
Easy Money – Patent Trolls?
| 16th August 2016
Have you heard of ‘patent trolls’? In 2010, VirnetX, a company with 14 members of staff won a $200 million settlement from Microsoft. Three years later, it claimed a further $23 million from the same company. In February 2016, VirnetX struck again, thi …
How many points is this worth?
Julia House | 27th April 2015
JW Spear & Sons Ltd & Others v Zynga Inc This case concerns a dispute between Mattel, maker of the famous word-forming physical and electronic board game SCRABBLE, and Zynga the world’s largest social gaming company. In 2007 Zynga launched an e …
Check local “Image Rights” before launching an advertising campaign
Katie Oliver | 19th February 2015
The recent Court of Appeal decision in the high profile case between Rihanna, the celebrity singer and actress, and Arcadia, who sold a T-shirt bearing her image, confirmed that, under English law, there is no “image right” or “character right” which a …
Trade Mark protection in China
Julia House | 2nd February 2015
British and European Trade Mark Attorney Julia House provides a timely update as to developments relating to Trade Mark protection in China. It is now possible to protect on-line retail services in China…. There has been an interesting developme …
Case law update – Specsavers v Asda
Katie Oliver | 9th December 2014
The long running dispute between Specsavers and Asda stores has reached a conclusion. The Court of Justice of the European Union in its appeal judgement has ruled in favour of Specsavers on the thorny issue of whether use of the figurative ‘specsavers’ …
