The history of copyright in the UK dates back to the 16th century when an author had to register a book he had finished writing with The Stationers Company which gave him sole permission to reproduce the book thereafter. This form of protection was available for the next 200 years. Acts of Parliament were later…
So you’re over the first hurdle: you know what your trademark will look like (you’ve come up with a great name and/or logo) but now you must consider the list of goods and services you wish your trademark to cover. Goods and services are split up into classes for the purposes of trademark applications. The…
Yesterday EU directive 2015/2436 came into force resulting in the OHIM rebranding to the EUIPO and ‘Community’ trademarks being renamed EU trademarks. Aside from cosmetic tinkering the directive also introduced changes to both procedural and substantive law relating to the newly named EU trademark. Fee Changes Of most interest to trademark applicants and owners will…
As reported on our blog in May 2014, Magmatic (manufacturer of the Trunki suitcase) lost its High Court appeal in its infringement action against PMS. Trunki subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court and on 9 March 2016 Lord Neuberger issued the court’s judgment. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the Court of Appeal that…
Whether you’re firm is just starting out, you are a growing company or you own a large multi-national, you’re hopefully acutely aware of the role your employees must play in protecting your IP. The question is: are they? A recent survey carried out by data control specialists Clearswift found that an alarming number of employees…
Have you seen that Christmas TV ad with the moon and the telescope? No, not the John Lewis advert, the Aldi parody that’s also hitting the headlines. While the creative ‘budget’ take on the most-talked about advert of the season is not judged to be a breach of copyright due to the ‘fair dealing’ exception…
What makes a toy a roaring success? Along with being creative and appealing enough to make it onto thousands upon thousands of letters to Santa, it will also need good patent protection. If you have a toy or other product that you want to make it onto the must-have list, you need to ensure that…
Whether you’re actively considering taking your business to the next level through franchising or you’re just getting started on launching your idea, it pays to be aware of the potential implications of franchising. Since the ability to successfully run a franchise scheme depends on having effective protection of your IP in place, we always advise…
The humble KitKat is making media headlines thanks to some magical melting moments brought about by a Japanese café. The eatery in question is slotting chocolate fingers of all flavours within the folds of warm patisserie (full details here). This innovation is surely to be commended by fans of the globally popular snack but aside…
Have you heard the one about the social media platform that started taking down jokes? No, really! In case you missed it, Twitter has started to remove jokes that are reported as plagiarised from others in an attempt to protect the copyright of comedy. So, as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival comes to a close, we…
