US producer-rapper Pharrell Williams has commenced legal proceedings against will.i.am over a the phase "i.am". Williams, who owns the YouTube channel “i am OTHER”, has said that the Black Eyed Peas front man is adamant his use of the phase infringes the "i.am" trade mark. will.i.am has owned the trade mark since 2001, and uses it for [...]
Sir James Dyson is the inventor of the world’s first cyclonic vacuum cleaner. I came across a recent interview with him in The SMART at www.heathrowexpress.com and which gives us an insight into the mind of one of the world’s most renowned inventors and designers. Sir James tells us that his engineering interest was inspired by a friend’s [...]
Interflora has won a five year battle against UK retailer Marks & Spencer, following a Court ruling that using a rival's trade mark in search engine keyword advertising constituted an infringement. Judge Arnold said in his ruling that "A significant proportion of the consumers who searched for "interflora" and the other Signs, and then clicked [...]
As widely reported, the famous for being famous Kardashian sisters (Kim, Khloe and Kourtney) have had to rename their “Khroma” make up range which was being sold in over 5300 stores across the US because of a dispute with Lee Tillett, Inc., the owner of the KROMA line of cosmetics. Lee Tillett, Inc., based in [...]
Are third parties free to produce Myriad’s breast cancer gene test? In a much-anticipated decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., the United States Supreme Court has held that product claims directed to naturally occurring BRCA gene sequences are products of nature and are therefore not eligible for patent protection. Thus claims to [...]
What is it all about? The Bill (here) is weighted heavily towards change in the UK design legal framework but patents and freedom of information both get a mention too. The Bill aims to simplify and improve design and patent protection to help businesses, to clarify the IP legal framework and to ensure that the [...]
As those following the ongoing battle between the smartphone giants Apple and Samsung will know, US District Judge Lucy Koh last year asked Apple’s lawyers were they “smoking crack” because they expected her to go through 75 pages of objections to witnesses. In the UK, Judge Colin Birss said that Samsung’s tablets were “not cool enough” [...]
The European Patent Office (EPO) and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance their cooperation in the area of patent classification. As of January 2014, SIPO will start classifying its newly published invention patent applications in some selected technical fields into the [...]
We are delighted to learn that we have been successful in assisting a Monaghan based fish and chip restaurant in defending an opposition at the Irish Patents Office by an international company against the local company's application to register a composite trade mark featuring the words The Monte Carlo and other graphic matter. The international opponents [...]
On 19th February 2013, 22 member states of the European Union sealed the deal to create the court structure for the new Community Patent. Once the new Community Patent system begins, it will be possible for applicants to file a single application resulting in a patent extending to all countries of the European Union except [...]