Most people know that that you can protect inventions with a patent, but the details are often shrouded in mystery. This guide introduces patents and takes you through the requirements for obtaining one. What is a patent? There are three main types of registered intellectual property: trademarks, registered designs, and patents. These rights protect entirely…
The ruling in Magmatic v. PMS International Ltd over registered deign infringement of the Trunki highlights the importance of filing the right images in a registered design application. In his judgement of 11 July 2013, the High Court ruled that PMS had infringed Community Registered Design (CRD) No. 43427-0001. The table below shows the images…
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…
Whether they know it or not, every business owns Intellectual Property (IP) in one form or another. IP can be a critical part of a company’s assets, providing it with ability to prevent competition and rapidly scale the business by licensing. Indeed, many businesses would not exist if they had not taken proper steps to…
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…
We often meet companies and individuals that have run into problems that could have been avoided if the right steps had been taken. Here are the top five causes of IP problems: 1. Not performing any trademark clearance searching Many people come up with great names for their businesses or products – memorable, inventive and…
As of April 2013 the UK government is offering a tax incentive to UK companies by reducing the rate of corporation tax payable on profits derived from patented technology to 10%. The 10% rate is not effective immediately, but the corporation tax rate for such profits will gradually reduce to reach 10 % in 2017.…
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…
Many lone inventors ask this question during an initial consultation with us. What should they do first? File a patent application or develop a prototype? There is sometimes no definitive answer to the question as there can be arguments in favour of both. However, there are two main factors to consider that will often provide…
