Intellectual property news and updates

HBO has been unsuccessful in its recent opposition to the registration of GAME OF VAPES as a UK trade mark. We examine the case and give our conclusion.

Supermarket giant Sainsbury's has successfully argued that a trade mark registration owned by Fromageries Bel SA, owner of the Babybel brand, is invalid.

Following on from two high profile recent cases; Actavis v Eli Lilly and Icescape v Ice-World, the IPEC have handed down a judgement based on the relatively new definition of patent infringement, infringement by equivalence. We give our opinion and recommendations based on this form of infringement.

This Garmin v Philips patent case provides insight into issues surrounding patent protection where an existing technology in one field is adopted in another.

The SCNPC are considering a Draft Amendment to Chinese patent legislation. We examine the details.

We outline the key changes that have come about from the new EU Trade Mark Directive.

There will be significant changes to trade mark legislation in Canada from 17 June 2019.

New legislation came into force on the 1 January 2019 although no significant cases have yet been decided by the new IP tibunal.

The EU 'BIG MAC' trade mark was cancelled by the EU Intellectual Property Office last week as McDonald's did not submit enough evidence of use.

This long running trade mark dispute provides a useful reminder of the vulnerability of a trade mark if the mark becomes a commonly used name for the good it is registered for.