Topic: General

Ok Google, Hey Siri, Hi Alexa – have you renewed my trade mark yet?

By Frances Drummond (AU), Alyson Poole (AU), Sophie Lees (AU) and Rebecca Brenikov (AU) on March 18, 2019 Posted in General, Trademark

With the ever increasing ubiquity of technologies improving everyday tasks in personal life, it is little wonder that such technologies are also offering efficiencies and advantages in the work context. Phrases such as process automation, data mining, machine learning and actionable intelligence are no longer far-out themes, but instead are being used regularly (and with … Continue reading

Brexit: trademarks and designs

By Clare Jackman (UK) on February 14, 2019 Posted in General

It won’t be news to you that there is still a great deal of uncertainty around Brexit and, with the March 29, 2019 looming, we do not yet know if the UK will exit in an orderly fashion (with a deal and with a transition period), obtain an extension of the negotiating period with a view to agreeing terms, crash out without a deal or, reverse the process altogether.… Continue reading

Bill C-86 – Tinkering with official marks in Canada

By Mat Brechtel (CA) on November 30, 2018 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

Final countdown: the date is set for implementing significant changes to Canadian trademark law

By Catherine Daigle (CA) and Karen MacDonald (CA) on November 15, 2018 Posted in General

The Canadian government has set down June 17, 2019 as the date when the most significant changes to Canada’s trademark law in over 50 years will finally be implemented.… Continue reading

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

By Amy Grenon (CA) on November 2, 2018 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

By Jonathan Ball (UK) on October 25, 2018 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?

By Farah Mukaddam (UK) on October 18, 2018 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

By Georgina Hey (AU) and Isobel Taylor (AU) on September 24, 2018 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

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

By Georgina Hey (AU) and Rebecca Brenikov (AU) on January 21, 2018 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

By Helen Macpherson (AU) and Rohan Sridhar (AU) on August 31, 2017 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

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

By Andrew Liddell (US) on September 4, 2012 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

By Andrew Liddell (US) and Saul Perloff (US) on August 23, 2012 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