Since February, several people have rushed to register trade marks for ‘COVID’ and ‘CORONA’ internationally. In fact, it is not unusual for global events to trigger trade mark applications. Applicants may seek to take advantage of a dire situation to secure exclusive rights over current buzz-words, in this case, profiting from the pandemic. Several such [...]
Intellectual Property (IP) rights and the environment have been put in the limelight, being the chosen topic for this year’s World IP Day. The theme this year is ‘innovate for green future’. We already discussed how trade marks can support sustainability, and now will take a closer look at the issue of IP and climate [...]
In celebration of World IP Day 2020, 26th April, M&D are focusing our news posts this week on green and sustainable topics in support of the theme "Innovate for a Green Future" To embrace a green future is a modern-day challenge in which we all play a role in attaining. Green businesses, technologies, products and [...]
At M&D and Ansons, we advise clients on a variety of issues regarding the use of registered trade marks. One of the issues that we discuss frequently is the use of registered trade marks in text, in order to ensure that they are being correctly used. The following are some general guidelines we often share [...]
MacLachlan & Donaldson would like to alert all clients and associates to the latest alert from the EUIPO. There is currently a new misleading invoice in circulation, which takes the form of a fake EUIPO decision. We would urge all users of the EUIPO to be vigilant about any communication regarding decisions and payments which [...]
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominate, several consumers have resorted to bulk-buying everyday products to avoid taking frequent trips to the supermarket. Others have chosen to do their shopping as swiftly as possible, taking the least amount of time, rushing to get back to their homes. As the demand for food and household products [...]
Trade Mark owners, once they receive their Certificates of Registration, are always advised to police these rights to ensure that these rights are not diluted by a third party using or attempting to register a confusingly similar trade mark. It can be daunting if one receives a cease and desist letter from a larger firm threatening proceedings [...]
MacLachlan & Donaldson are proud to share that Denis McCarthy, Director and European Patent Attorney, has been elected to the Council of the European Patent Institute (epi). Denis has been a full member of the Council before and we are delighted that he has been elected again by his fellow Irish Patent Attorneys. As described [...]
Our European Trademark attorneys, Carla MacLachlan and Peter MacLachlan, are delighted to be talking with business and marketing students at TU Dublin Tallaght today at 1pm. They will be giving the students an overview of Intellectual Property, with a specific focus on trademarks and copyright. They will also be taking questions on the subject from [...]
The European Patent Office (EPO) has recently issued a decision on its approach to patent applications that designate artificial intelligence (AI) systems as inventors. In January 2020, the EPO published its reasons for refusing two patent applications where the inventor named on the applications was an AI system called “DABUS”. What did DABUS “invent? The [...]