The producers of X Factor revealed at the start of this month that Simco Ltd was withdrawing its application to register a trade mark for the name of girl group Rhythmix. (Simco Ltd is another of Simon Cowell's companies). This followed...
With another successful series of ‘Dragons Den’ (Series 9 BBC 2) now complete, I do think about what there is left to be invented, mainly so I can retire early… But, even if I could think of a completely novel idea (which I am still...
On July 27 2011, judgement was handed down by the Supreme Court in the case of Lucasfilm Limited (and others) v Andrew Ainsworth (and another). That judgement marked a further stage in a lengthy legal battle which had spanned two continents and six years of...
In a US case reported this week, but one typical of the issues raised regularly within the UK, Marvel Comics have defeated the estate of an employee who claimed that he owned the copyright in the work he carried out. As those works included Spiderman,...
In the first ruling of its kind BT has been ordered to block access to a website accused of ‘flagrant’ copyright infringement. The case which was brought by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) (whose members include film...
It was reported this week that Bucks Fizz have been arguing over the right to use the mark "Bucks Fizz", in a dispute that is typical of arguments over intellectual property rights that can occur when the owners of a business fall out. Bucks Fizz...
Following on from my recent Fashion Design and Imitation: Flattery or Theft? blog , Westwood v Knight [2011] EWPCC 8, 22 March 2011 was the first case to be heard under the new procedural regime in the Patents County Court which...
Coco Chanel famously said that "imitation is the highest form of flattery". Does this suggest that the fashion industry takes a more relaxed attitude towards intellectual property rights than other sectors? A current debate taking pace in...
After a 2 year investigation, UKTV’s application to register the trade mark “Dave” has been rejected by the EU’s Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (“OHIM”). The TV channel applied to register the name of the...
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...Andrew Ainsworth and his business Shepperton Design Studios produced storm trooper helmets, armour and Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing helmet for Star Wars. Ainsworth decided to sell imitation helmets and other...
Patents protect an innovative technical or mechanical process that has been developed. A classic example is the Dyson vacuum cleaner, which when it was introduced in the 1990s, was highly innovative in the way it worked. To protect the innovation, you must...
The Beatles’ songs are now available on iTunes after a long-running dispute between Apple Corps (owned by the Beatles) and Apple Inc. over who owns the right to use the name “Apple” and the “Apple” logo. Both sides registered...
The Government intends to review UK copyright law to make it “fit for the internet age” in the words of David Cameron. In the UK, the creator of an original work is automatically the author of the copyright in that work – with a few...
Apple has been awarded a trade mark for its slogan “There’s an app for that”. The trade mark relates to the tagline developed by Apple in relation to applications that can be downloaded to various Apple products. A trade mark is a sign...
The recent case of L'Oréal v Bellure highlights the rapidly changing law regarding trademark protection. In this case, the defendant sold cheap perfumes which had a similar smell to luxury brands, and advertised them using comparison lists....
“Genuine use” is a key consideration of the CTM system. Failure to put a CTM to genuine use after 5 years of registration puts the registration at risk of revocation.”( Contribution to the Study on the Overall Functioning of the Trade Mark...
Subscribe to the Nelsons Law RSS service and get all the news as it is added. Simply copy the address from the box below into your RSS reader software: