We were delighted to exhibit at the MACH exhibition last week at the NEC in Birmingham.
Sean Leach, Andrew White, Catherine Booth, Annabel Williams, Matthew Maitland, Ruth Telfer, Michael Stott, Miranda Kent, Kevin Heritage and Matthew Morton were in all attendance over the week long exhibition.
MACH is hosted by the MTA, an organisation that we are members of. We have been working with the MTA recently to explore the role of intellectual property within the manufacturing sector, and had some interesting conversations around this topic at MACH.
Sean Leach, Partner at Mathys & Squire, gave a fantastic talk on the hidden risks and opportunities in IP management within the manufacturing supply chain.
IP Inclusive is an organisation committed to working for equality, diversity and inclusion in IP.
We are proud to be members and signatories of the IP Inclusive Charter, and look forward to working with the organisation.
For more information about IP Inclusive please click here.
Key changes are being made to the Community Trade Mark Regulation and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market from the 23 March 2016. The Community Trade Mark (“CTM”) will be renamed the European Union Trade Mark (“EUTM”) and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market will be renamed the European Union Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”).
Any existing CTM applications will automatically become EUTM applications on 23 March 2016.
In addition to this, there will be changes made to the EUIPO official fees for new trade mark applications to discourage trade marks being filed in three Classes. For trade mark owners wishing to file a EUTM the official fees will be:
For One Class €850
For Two Classes €900
For Three Classes €1050
For Four Classes €1200
Consequently, clients will no longer be able to register three classes for the price of one. One fee will be payable for each class, at a lower rate of €850 for a single class.
If you would like to know more about the changes or have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact your attorney at Mathys & Squire on +44 (0)207 830 0000 or [email protected].
The Supreme Court has today announced their judgement in the landmark case of Magmatic (the makers of the Trunki ride-on case) and their rivals PMS (the distributers of the Kiddee Case).
Magmatic, based in Bristol, was founded by the designer of the Trunki suitcase. Magmatic allege that PMS International, based in Hong Kong, have infringed their European Community registered design rights with PMS’s Kiddee Case ride-on suitcases for children.
Magmatic took legal action against PMS in respect of the Kiddee Case, and won a High Court judgment against PMS in July 2013. In March 2014 however, that judgement was overturned by the Court of Appeal. In November 2015 the Supreme Court heard the case, and their judgement was released today.
The decision of the Supreme Court was unanimous in finding that the PMS Kiddee Case does not infringe Magmatic’s European Community registered design for the Trunki case. This confirms the findings of the Court of Appeal.
This marks the end of a long road for Magmatic in their pursuit of PMS for infringing the Trunki design. However, the effects of the Supreme Court’s judgement will have significant implications for businesses seeking to protect their designs. In particular, this decision reinforces the need to ensure that drawings used in a registered design do not include unnecessary limitations. In this particular case, the drawings – which are the sole basis on which infringement is determined – showed the Trunki case with distinct tonal contrasts, which were not present on the Kiddee Case. Hence, the Kiddee Case did not infringe the design.
Our more detailed analysis of the judgement will follow. The Supreme Court’s full judgement can be found here.
Emma Reeve examines the relationship between the law and a new breed of business rising from the shadows of online, looking at whether more conversations need to he held in order to update the current legal system to bring it in line with issues faced by 21st century start-ups.
To read the full article click on the link below.
http://www.the-gma.com/strengthening-the-brandingtrade-mark-relationship
While patents have not yet been central to the debate on the UK referendum, exit of the UK from the European Union is likely at least to delay implementation of the proposed pan-European unified patent system (UPC).
Ultimately, however, it is likely that the system will go ahead across the rest of Europe. While UK patentees would be able to apply for a Unitary Patent, such patents would not cover the UK and UK protection would need to be obtained via a separate patent. As one of the largest markets in Europe, however, exit of the UK from the EU and the UPC system raises the question of how attractive the remaining unitary patent will be for applicants.
Join James Pitchford and the Cambridge Technology Cluster for a fascinating roundtable discussion on how to control your IP in a digital world.
The meeting will be held at the Crown Plaza Hotel, 20 Downing St, Cambridge CB2 3DT, on 22nd March 2016.
The agenda is as follows :
| 09.30 – 10.00 | An expert view of the types of documents that contain IP |
| 10.00 – 11.00 | Discussion Group (roundtable) capturing current techniques and tools being used |
| 11.00 – 11.30 | Coffee Break |
| 11.30 – 12.30 | Challenges and risks of existing techniques & tools. Including Governance of IT & Information Risk Management |
| 12.30 – 13.00 | An introduction to an IP Audit. Measuring the risk and potential cost in your Organisation |
| 13.00 – 13.30 | Alfresco One Introduction
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| 13.30 – 14.30 | Lunch and Good Byes |
For more information please click here.
On Monday 15th February the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee of the House of Lords scrutinised a draft of ‘The Patents (European Patent with Unitary Effect and Unified Patent Court) Order 2016”, to take account of the UPC as part of the passage of the SI through parliament.
Read more about the proposed order here.
A British Comedy business, Comic, has won a case brought against 20th Century Fox. A high court judge has ruled that their trade mark has been infringed by the show ‘Glee’, a global television series.
A mark is considered to be infringing where the sign is similar to the registered mark and used for identical or similar services, and where there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public. The Court of Appeal has found that there was a reasonable degree of similarity between the two, and that there was likelihood of confusion.
Comic have venues around the UK and have found that their customers confuse their business with the TV show. They argue that this has damaged their brand, business and reputation.
The decision was made on 8th February and more information regarding the consequences of the ruling are to follow.
Emma Reeve discusses the new rules of branding and trade marks in an article published on behindthespin.com.
The article explores changes to branding in a fast moving age of internet and social media, and the new challenges this presents to companies in protecting both their brand and reputation.
To read the article in full please click on the link below.
http://www.behindthespin.com/features/the-new-rules-of-branding-and-trade-marks
