In Aprils’ budget the government of Canada announced plans to extend copyright protection for artists from 50 years to 70 years. This means that rather than enjoying copyright protection on recorded works for 50 years after release, artists and record companies won’t have to worry about songs passing into the public domain until much later.…
Following votes in the House of Commons and House of Lords in March in favour of standardising cigarette packaging, we could see rules finalised that will force cigarette packets sold in England to adopt the same uniform look. David Cameron recently repeated his party’s commitment to introducing ‘healthy’ packaging in their manifesto. What this means…
Modern Trademark law started in the UK on the 1st January 1876, although the first trademark legislation was formed during the reign of King Henry III, requiring all bakers of bread to use their own specific mark. Take a look at our Infographic for more interesting tips and facts on registering a trademark.
Cadbury’s purple reigns or a purple haze? That is the question. Cadbury have the following trade mark currently registered: The mark consists of the colour purple (Pantone 2685C) as shown on the form of application, applied to the whole visible surface, or being the predominant colour applied to the whole visible surface, of the packaging…
Back in October 2010 we published the first part of this article speculating on how the Interflora v Marks & Spencer case might develop. On 21 May 2013 Mr Justice Arnold of the High Court issued judgement. Background To recap on the facts of the case, Marks & Spencer PLC (‘M&S’) used the registered trademark…
The European Commission is in the process of consulting stakeholders regarding proposed changes to EU law, including changes to the bad faith provisions. Under the bad faith provisions trademark applications/registrations may be challenged on grounds that they were essentially filed dishonestly. If the proposed law is given a broad interpretation then it seems that there…
As trademark attorneys, we often have enquiries from people who are launching a business and want to register a business or product name, but are on such a tight budget that even a couple of hundred pounds spent on a trademark attorney is too much. If you can afford a trademark attorney we highly recommend…
For an update please see Part 2 With the increasing importance of the internet in commerce trademark law is having to catch up with new ways of advertising, in particular Google Adwords. The ongoing Interflora v Marks & Spencer case looks as though it might have a serious impact on using trademarks as Adwords. There…
