Doctor Who has hit the headlines for more than one reason recently. On the 50th anniversary of the British science-fiction TV show produced by the BBC, Stef Coburn, the son of one of the original writers of the show, has claimed ownership of rights in the TARDIS. For those of you who are not Whovians [...]
The current IPR Regulation will be replaced on the 1st of January 2014 by Council Regulation No. 608 of 2013. This new Regulation will simplify the process where the Customs Authorities intervene in suspected cases of counterfeit goods, namely from January 2014 a new application form must be used for "applications for action" while there [...]
The news section of the European Patent Office website www.epo.org notes today that an amendment of the provisions of the European Patent Convention dealing with the requirements for the filing of divisional applications has been adopted. The decision enters into force on 1st April 2014 and will apply to divisional applications filed on or after [...]
It has been widely reported that Ireland is the fifth biggest exporter in the pharmaceutical field and that many blockbuster drugs have either recently lost or will soon lose their patent protection with few new drugs having been developed to replace the money-making blockbusters. For example, Irish-made cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (Pfizer) and schizophrenia drug Zyprexa [...]
As sick children lay in bed over 30 years ago listening to their friends playing outside in the sunshine, there was one advantage they usually had over those friends: a glass of Lucozade brought up to them by their loving mothers. It was, as a slogan said at the time, the “nice part of being [...]
Following a UK Patents Court ruling in July last year (subsequently upheld by the UK Court of Appeal) wherein it was held that certain Samsung tablets do not infringe Apple’s Registered Community Design (RCD) No. 000181607-0001, the EU designs registry known by its official title of “Office of Harmonisation in the Internal Market” (OHIM) has [...]
It was good to see one of our valued clients, Professor Austin Darragh, featured in the Business section of the Sunday Independent newspaper. Professor Darragh and Dr JJ Leahy have developed a new groundbreaking technology which should result in larger and healthier crops. The feature can be found below: http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/wave-goodbye-to-global-warming-gm-and-pesticides-29525621.html
A trade mark can become a generic term if it is not used properly. Examples of well known generic terms which were originally trade marks are “escalator” and “aspirin”. “Hoover” is a good example of a trade mark which very nearly became a generic term. Collins English Dictionary contains conflicting references in the sense that [...]
In 2011 the pop star Rihanna had to curtail a photoshoot on a farm in Northern Ireland when the owner of the farm, Alan Graham, wasn't impressed by her "inappropriate state of undress" and ordered her off the farm and to become "acquainted with God". Well we don't know whether Rihanna heeded the farmers advice [...]
British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSBG) and Microsoft have settled the trade mark infringement action which Sky brought against Microsoft in an English Court. As a result Microsoft will have to find a new name for its cloud storage service SkyDrive. BSBG has, however, agreed to allow Microsoft to continue using the name for a [...]