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Bill C-86 – Tinkering with official marks in Canada

Mat Brechtel (CA)By Mat Brechtel (CA) on Posted in General
In addition to its more substantive changes to IP law, budget implementation Bill C-86 also takes the opportunity to fix a curious, and perhaps unintended, aspect of Canada’s official marks scheme. Official marks are marks that appear on the trademark register once they are adopted by a public authority.  Unlike trademarks, which are subject to expungement … Continue reading

Bill C-86 — significant changes to Canada’s IP regime

Amy Grenon (CA)By Amy Grenon (CA) on Posted in Copyright, General, Trademark
The federal government’s recent omnibus budget bill, Bill C-86 tabled October 29th, 2018, proposes significant changes to Canada’s IP laws. Division 7 of the Bill is intended to implement many aspects of the government’s IP strategy announced in April 2018, and targets the Patent Act, the Trade-marks Act, and Copyright Act; provides for a new … Continue reading

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Jonathan Ball (UK)By Jonathan Ball (UK) on Posted in Copyright, General
Wolves bare their fangs over copyright infringement claim You’d think that newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers would have enough on their plate just ensuring survival in the Premiership. Unfortunately, the club now has another worry given that it has been sued in the intellectual property courts in London by an individual who claims copyright in the … Continue reading

No deal better than a bad deal?

Farah Mukaddam (UK)By Farah Mukaddam (UK) on Posted in General
Latest guidance from the UK Government on implications of ‘no-deal’ Brexit for IP rights holders On September 24, 2018, the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) published a further series of technical notices on how intellectual property (IP) rights holders might be affected if the United Kingdom (UK) leaves the European Union (EU) in March 2019 … Continue reading

Amended Australian IP laws receive Royal Assent with little fanfare

Georgina Hey (AU)Isobel Taylor (AU)By Georgina Hey (AU) and Isobel Taylor (AU) on Posted in Copyright, General, Trademark
On 24 August 2018, the creatively named Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 1 and Other Measures) Bill 2018 quietly received Royal Assent, with some parts of the new Act entering into force the following day. As the name indicates, the primary focus of the new legislation is to implement the recommendations made … Continue reading

Social media influencers – to “like” or not to “like?”

Frances Drummond (AU)Rebecca Brenikov (AU)By Frances Drummond (AU) and Rebecca Brenikov (AU) on Posted in Advertising, General
Today, social media influencers are a key resource used by businesses to engage with consumers. Influencers include celebrities, bloggers or simply popular social media users in speciality areas like beauty or travel. Social media influencers’ posts can attract thousands, and sometimes millions, of views and likes. Such exposure allows businesses to instantly engage with a … Continue reading

What Brexit means for IP: The UK Law Society, the IP Bar, CIPA and CITMA weigh in on Brexit strategy

Georgina Hey (AU)Rebecca Brenikov (AU)By Georgina Hey (AU) and Rebecca Brenikov (AU) on Posted in Advertising, General, Trademark
It’s no surprise that many in the professional and legal services industries are putting increasing thought into what the post-Brexit world will, or should, look like. The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) in the UK has been the latest body to put its two cents (or pennies) into the mix. Brand owners from all … Continue reading

Australia – No extensions for Swiss style Pharma Patents

Helen Macpherson (AU)Rohan Sridhar (AU)By Helen Macpherson (AU) and Rohan Sridhar (AU) on Posted in Advertising, General
A Full Court of the Federal Court has confirmed that patents containing “Swiss-style” claims are outside the scope of the Australian patent term extension regime in its recent judgment of Commissioner of Patents v AbbVie Biotechnology Ltd [2017] FCAFC 129. What it means: Patents which claim methods or processes involving pharmaceutical substances cannot be extended … Continue reading

Top 10 reasons to read the new and improved Brand Protection Blog

Saul Perloff (US)Jonathan Ball (UK)Frances Drummond (AU)Brian Gray (CA)By Saul Perloff (US), Jonathan Ball (UK), Frances Drummond (AU) and Brian Gray (CA) on Posted in General
For more than two years, the Brand Protection Blog has posted timely information to help you promote and safeguard your brands in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace. Today we re-launch the Brand Protection Blog with a new look and tools to help you get the information you need more even more efficiently. If that wasn’t reason … Continue reading

UPDATE | Reps Propose “Loser Pays” for Long-Shot Patent Suits

Andrew Liddell (US)By Andrew Liddell (US) on Posted in General
On August 23, we reported on the recently proposed SHIELD Act which targets patent assertion entities (PAEs) by permitting courts to award attorney fees in some cases involving “computer patents.” A recent report by the Congressional Research Service cautions that the SHIELD Act may run afoul of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property … Continue reading

Reps propose “loser pays” for long-shot patent suits

Andrew Liddell (US)Saul Perloff (US)By Andrew Liddell (US) and Saul Perloff (US) on Posted in General
Congressmen Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) have introduced the SHIELD Act (Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes, H.R. 6245) to combat the perceived threat of non-practicing entities (NPEs) to American innovation. Specifically, the Act would allow a court to award attorneys’ fees to a prevailing party in cases involving computer patents without … Continue reading
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