INTA Conference in Seattle
Peter MacLachlan is attending the INTA Annual Conference in Seattle, United States of America. This is the 140th Annual meeting of that organisation and will be attended by thousands of the leading IP experts in the world.
“Where the bands have the same name”
Most of you would be familiar with the U2 song "Where the Streets Have No Name". Now according to the BBC ( http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-44088403 ), it's a case of "Where the bands have the same name" for Elijah Hewson, son of U2 frontman, Bono. Hewson is a member of a four piece band called INHALER (INHALER IE) [...]
ECTA 74th Autumn Council & Committee Meetings
Peter MacLachlan, who is an Irish member on the ECTA Council, is attending the 74th Autumn Meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Referendum on the Unified Patent Court deferred
With the Government facing up to possibly 8 referendums, the date for the referendum on the Unified Patent Court has been deferred https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0926/907522-cabinet_referendums/
New European Patent Attorney
We are pleased to announce that European Patent Attorney, Nikos Minas, has joined our company from a Belgian firm of Intellectual Property Attorneys. Nikos is an expert at helping companies and individuals identify, protect and exploit their innovations. He has extensive experience in the development and management of optimised patent portfolios for a diverse range [...]
What’s the beef ?
A trade mark dispute at the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) between two well known brands in Ireland has caught the media's attention here. https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2017/0412/867126-supermac-s-trademarks/ The Trade Mark SUPERMAC'S has been in use in Ireland in relation to a fast food chain of restaurants since 1978, and incidentally a favourite haunt of our Prime [...]
EPI Council Election results
Congratulations to Denis McCarthy who was re-elected to the EPI Council, which organisation is the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office. This is Denis's 24th year on the Council and he topped the poll among the Irish candidates.
A few sales from a website not “genuine use”.
The Irish Patents Office has recently handed down a decision in a revocation action on what constitutes "genuine use". Even though the registered proprietor was able to establish that four sales had been made via its website to Ireland during the relevant period, this was not regarded as "genuine use" on the grounds that the [...]
Dead in the Water
Irish Water has had a lot of difficulties of late. Most people will be aware that Irish Water is the State’s national water utility which is responsible for providing water services throughout Ireland. However, upon the formation of this company there were nationwide protests by many people who felt that they should not have to [...]
Knowledge Development Box (KDB) and SMEs
Knowledge Development Box (KDB) and SMEs What is the KDB? As of 1st January 2016, the KDB offers reduced taxation of income (an effective corporate tax rate of 6.25%) arising from qualifying intellectual property (IP), i.e. patents, copyrighted software and, in relation to smaller companies, other IP that is similar to an invention which could [...]