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Customs can help fight counterfeiting by detaining goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights. To ask customs to take action, IP right owners need to lodge an Application for Action or AFA. Before Brexit, two types of AFAs provided protection in the UK, namely: national AFAs and EU-wide AFAs. But since 1 January 2021, EU AFAs granted before the end of the Transition Period no longer have the same scope. Depending on where the EU AFA was granted, the Application…
(Updated 3rd July 2020) Following its regular review since 24th March of this year the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has now brought an end to the application of automatic extensions to all deadlines that had fallen on “interrupted” days. The system of interrupted days has been in direct response to the Coronavirus and its impact on businesses addressing matters before the UKIPO. Consequently, it has been announced that the sequence of interrupted days will cease as from 29th July…
The global Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is having an impact on us all to a certain degree. SH&P is committed to maintaining the health and welfare of its staff and to minimising any disruption of our services. The UK Government moved from a state of containment to one of delay and we are now in the midst of a "lockdown". The Government's official approach and guidance to individuals and businesses will evolve rapidly over the coming weeks. SH&P will continue to…
[From L-R: Paul Moore, Kalei McHugh, Winston’s Wish bear, Kerry Waite and Jon Welfoot] SH&P has a long and proud tradition of supporting local charities in the South West. Over the years our staff have raised money for lots of good causes by holding events such as bake sales, plant sales, dress-down days and sweepstakes. Our clients also regularly pitch in at our annual golf day. The substantial proceeds of these events have been passed on to plenty of very…
Over the course of a number of years our staff have been proud to support a diverse range of local charities in the South West. For the last two years we have been supporting the work of Woodstock School, culminating in SH&P paralegal David Burborough’s fantastic fundraising effort in running the 2019 Edinburgh Marathon, in which he single-handedly raised over £1000 in the process. Woodstock School is part of the Woodway Federation and is a Bristol-based school specialising in the…
On 26th May 2019 our very own Dave Burborough took part in the Edinburgh Marathon in aid of our current adopted charity, Woodstock School. It takes a special character to decide they want to run non-stop for 26.2 miles. Up until the big race Dave had put in around 6 months’ solid training and had one or two setbacks along the way including a back injury which put him out of action for a short while. On the day itself…
Chocolate battles won and lost, but the war is not over... If you asked someone to imagine Cadbury chocolate, most people would immediately think of the purple packaging. The iconic purple hue, registered as a trade mark for the shade Pantone 2685C since 1995, has been the confectionery giant’s signature colour for decades. The “Dairy Milk” product is just one example of this. However, despite Cadbury’s established rights in the purple colour variant there has been a long-running “chocolate war”…
As the second anniversary of the EU Referendum result approaches, it is debatable whether any tangible progress has been made during negotiations. The mainstream media is never short of reporting triumphs and failures. It largely depends on who is doing the reporting. One person’s victory is another’s defeat. This was always going to be the case on such a finely balanced and divisive topic. It remains to be seen what opportunities Brexit will bring. In the meantime, businesses have no…
We’ve received sad news that Woodstock School who we’ve been actively raising funds for have had their school bus vandalised to the point where it can no longer run. You’ve probably seen in our previous post that the school is close to our hearts and provides exceptional care for special needs children in Bristol. The school bus is a vital part of school life as it enables the children to take part in all manner of enriching activities such as…
Do you know what all these brands have in common? Hoover, Jacuzzi, Frisbee, Escalator, Thermos, Yo-Yo They were once highly effective trade marks but have since been categorised as a generic term for certain goods because many people now refer to them collectively by the trade marks rather than by a specific brand. One everyday example is Hoover – we’ve become so accustomed to calling all vacuum cleaners Hoovers that the term has become generic for these goods. Same goes…